Lawsuit: Duke fumbled flood planning, unleashed torrent on unsuspecting homeowners

The floodwaters roared down the Catawba River and into dozens of Charlotte homes last June.

Now comes the court fight.

Almost 40 riverside families whose houses and property stood in the way of the swollen Catawba have sued Duke Energy, accusing the Charlotte utility that controls the river of mishandling last year’s flood, then failing to adequately alert downstream residents of what it had sent thundering their way.

Not only had a foot or more of rain fallen on some parts of the Catawba basin during a three-day deluge, on June 9 Duke released the largest amount of water ever from Lake Norman.

The combination sent an up-to-8-foot surge into more than 100 homes in northwest Charlotte, many of them on Riverside Drive along Mountain Island Lake, causing millions in damages.

Half of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit live on the street. One of them, Michael Jackson, told the Observer last year that the floods sent 3 feet of water into his house, the first time in 25 years his home had been reached by the Catawba.

Michael Jackson has lived for 25 years in his home on Riverside Drive and says that despite other floods water has never gotten into his home. This time, though, three feet of muddy water inundated his house. After a weekend of heavy rains, residents along Riverside Drive on Mountain Island Lake had to evacuate due to flooding. Cars and homes were flooded all along Riverside Drive. Some say it was the first time ever for water to get into their homes and they had very little warning about the oncoming flood waters.

The families’ lawsuit, which is being handled by two Charlotte law firms, accuses Duke of negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress. It also calls for Duke to pay compensatory damages and for the case to be heard by a jury.

Duke spokeswoman Heather Danenhower said the company “stands by the operational decisions made in June 2019 and will vigorously defend itself against the allegations in the lawsuit.

“The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reviewed the actions we took during this historic flood event and found that we acted in compliance with our license,” she said.

In a June letter to federal regulators, Duke said it took steps to prepare for a predicted 4 to 6 inches of rain between June 7 and June 12 but could not have anticipated that twice as much precipitation would fall in some areas over a single day.

In September, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ruled that Duke Energy did not violate its hydropower license in how it handled the flood. But it ordered Duke to re-evaluate what happened and how to prevent future flooding. It also asked the company to review “the timeliness and effectiveness” of public notices and warnings.

Feds tell Duke Energy to review flood response after $3M in damage to Charlotte homes

Along with what it calls Duke’s failed emergency communication, the lawsuit homes in on the utility’s handling of Lake Norman, the state’s largest reservoir and Duke’s fail safe in controlling flooding along the Catawba’s 11-lake chain.

According to the complaint, “… Lowering the water level by even a few inches allows Lake Norman to absorb millions of gallons of water from upstream. By slowly releasing water through the dam in advance of a heavy rain event, Duke can eliminate or minimize any flooding downstream. …”

Two days before the June rains started, Duke says, it began moving water downstream, leaving Norman with 1.5 feet of storage, which the utility says should have been enough room to handle the predicted rain.

Instead, by Sunday, June 9, the cushion was gone and Norman was threatening to come over its banks, prompting Duke to make a record release of water through its massive Cowans Ford Dam, moving the flooding threat downstream.

Brandon Jones of the Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation told the Observer that despite higher-than-predicted rainfall, Duke should have taken precautions in case the forecasts were low.

Lake Norman, he said, should have been able to handle a weather event that did not approach a record rainfall.

In its letter to federal regulators, Duke said it tried to strike a balance in Norman and its other lakes between flood-control and other uses .

“Lowering reservoir levels further would have increased the risk of creating a deficit in stored water going into the summer if the storm had delivered less than the forecasted amount of precipitation,” Duke wrote.

Tom Davis, whose home downstream of the Mountain Island Lake dam was flooded but who is not a part of the lawsuit, told the Observer that Duke keeps Lake Norman higher than the reservoirs around it to keep affluent lakefront property owners happy.

“A rain event of about 10 inches in Hickory should not fill up Lake Norman,” he said. “They have a better staff of meteorologists than any TV station. Does the middle class have to pay for the rich to play on Lake Norman?”

No siren

Once it began releasing the largest amount of water ever through the Cowans Ford Dam, Duke “failed to provide any warnings (to the homeowners) of the impending flood until the flood had actually occurred,” the lawsuit claims.

Riverside Drive resident Dave Holland, who has not joined the lawsuit, said last June that he and his neighbors normally hear a siren when Duke releases water upstream. There was no siren on June 9, he said.

Catawba River residents were told to expect rising water. But not a 56-year record.

A postmortem by the Observer of the emergency communication during the flood revealed some potential gaps.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg emergency officials said firefighters began going door-to-door to ask residents if they would voluntarily evacuate between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Roughly 40 people complied, they said.

But local officials say many residents didn’t leave until after 8 p.m., when waters began to rise rapidly. They said they did not warn the public about Duke’s opening of the dam because they focus on the threat of flooding.

Duke said it notified local and state emergency officials of its plans and also made information available on its lake website and through a toll-free phone system, according to its letter to regulators.

Even so, some residents say they got the message way late.

At 9 p.m. on June 9, when Sabrina Hilario, her husband and her dog were on a paddleboard fleeing the flood waters that were approaching their home, her cell phone beeped.

“I looked at the phone and it said there is a risk of flooding in my area,” she later told the Observer. “That is the only communication I got, a text, because I’m on the alert system.”