South Bend area residents serve notices over flood damages

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - Thirty property owners south of South Bend have submitted legal filings, as a precursor to a lawsuit, alleging the city, St. Joseph County and the state are responsible for damages involving August flooding.

Attorney Charles Rice sent the tort claim notices about five months after record-setting rain hit the area August 15 and 16, the South Bend Tribune (http://bit.ly/2ktIxQ5 ) reported.

The notices say the property owners suffered severe and destructive floods due to the negligence of governmental entities responsible for controlling increased runoff from a recently completed highway project. The entities, according to the notices, neglected to ensure drainage and sewage systems were able to handle increased drainage.

Rice said the owners' damages total at least $900,000. Most of the owners' notices say the full amount of their damages isn't known yet.

County attorney Jamie Woods said the county has hired an engineering firm to conduct a study of the U.S. 31 project's effect on drainage. He said the area, called Jewell Woods, had no history of flooding before the road project.

"It's readily apparent that the ditch out there in Jewell Woods, even if it was dug infinitely deeper, the flooding would have occurred," he said. "Something out there has changed in the surrounding area that we need to understand, in addition to this just being a major flood event."

Rice's clients have two years from Aug. 15 to file a lawsuit. He said he hasn't decided whether they'd file individual lawsuits or join together in a class action case if settlements can't be reached.

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Information from: South Bend Tribune, http://www.southbendtribune.com