DETROIT — Michigan State was cleared of liability Thursday in a Catastrophic dam failure 2020 Which flooded local communities, destroyed more than 100 homes and dried up a popular lake.
Court of Claims Judge James Redford acknowledged the “real and lasting damage” caused by the failure of the Edenvale Dam. But he said days of torrential rain and unprecedented 100-year flooding caused the disaster in the Midland area, not the state-authorized level for Lake Wixom.
Redford cited experts who said the low lake level before the disaster was unlikely to prevent the disaster.
“This does not mean that what the plaintiffs have suffered and continue to suffer is not an extremely difficult and heavy burden,” the judge said in a 100-page opinion that followed the January trial in Grand Rapids.
Lawyers representing thousands of people have sued the state, alleging that decisions made by environmental regulators contributed to the dam’s failure and the destruction of property values and their enjoyment of Lake Wixom, 150 miles (241 kilometers) northwest of Detroit.
If Redford had ruled in favor of the landlords, the case would have moved to the financial recovery phase. Messages seeking comment from lawyers were not immediately responded to.
The judge said that the collapse of the dam could not be likened, as the plaintiffs’ lawyers said, to a collapse 2014-15 Flint water crisis Major decisions taken by the state caused lead to leak from oil pipelines and corrupt the system.
The privately owned dam on the Tittabawassee River produced hydroelectric power until its federal license was revoked in 2018. The reservoir behind the dam is known as Wixom Lake. The dam was in the process of being delivered to area residents when the failure occurred, unleashing a torrent that also overwhelmed Sanford Dam downstream and flooded the city of Midland.
The lake rose more than 5 feet (1.5 m) above its normal level and 3 feet (0.9 m) above the highest level recorded in 1929. The east side of the dam’s soil was submerged and became unstable. Since the failure, Lake Wixom has been slowly recovering.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission asked experts to study what happened at the Edenville and Sanford dams. the 2022 report He said failure was “expected and preventable” but could not be “attributed to any individual, group or organisation”.