HOUSTON – Tony Buzbee has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the family of a man who perished when water released from two west Houston reservoirs following Hurricane Harvey surged into his neighborhood.
In court papers filed on Jan. 12, Kyle Frederick Haines and Kirby Haines assert that the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the Harris County Flood Control District intentionally discharged water from the Addicks and Barker reservoirs without taking the late Robert Arthur Haines’s federally-protected right to life into consideration.
Harvey made landfall along the middle section of the Texas Gulf Coast as a Category 4 hurricane on the night of Aug. 25. It drenched most of Southeast Texas with approximately 50 inches of rain, leaving many parts of Houston and surrounding areas underwater.
The Army Corps and the HCFCD deliberately began releasing water from both reservoir systems three days after the storm’s arrival “out of fear that water would spill over and cause uncontrolled damage to downtown Houston,” the suit says.
Per the original petition, Robert Arthur Haines’s residence in the Thornwood neighborhood was initially spared Harvey’s onslaught, but the reservoirs’ waters inundated the home and drowned the 71-year-old.
“Decedent Robert Haines would not have drowned in his flooded home in west Houston, but for the actions of the defendants,” the complaint says.
Consequently, Robert Arthur Haines’s surviving relatives seek unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.
Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas Case No. 4:18-CV-0104