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Is this an act of God?

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tlroyal

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? VA

I live in VA, I bought property 5 yrs ago, built a home, and built a retention pond in an area where runoff water from 30 acres collected hoping this would create a pond for water for my horses....we have received weeks of downpouring rain, 18 inches of melted snow, etc in the last 2 mths....about 1 ft by 1 ft area of the levee broke and caused mud and water to run over a road, common access (an area of road that flooded prior to me building the pond).....now neighbors want me to correct it, according to the voicemail in the next 2 days before additonal snow/rain.....I want to wait to see if there is damage or if there is just water and mud...I took pics, is this considered an act of God or am I responsible...and to what point am I responsible...I don't mind fixing it, but in 5 yrs there has been no maintenance done to this section of the road in 5 yrs that I have been here and there is a road maintenance agreement in the community...BUT, it is vague and only 2 neighbors of 6 use this part of the road to get to their homes...but it is a property boarder of my property and my sister (with whom I have been estranged for over a year). What can you tell me?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
 


FarmerJ

Senior Member
If you were my nieghbor and I were going to sue you I would base my claim on this one thing , You created the pond there on your property so because of your actions it created a flooding risk that would not have been there if you had left it alone and done nothing since doing nothing would have allowed what ever rain/ snow melts to do what they were going to do all on there own , meaning if your property was just a bit higher than the road all along rains and snow melts would have run naturally toward the road and if the rain and snow melt water had washed over the road and damaged it then it would be a act of god and the properties obligated by the maint agreement would be obligated to pay for the repair. The pond you created via your changes to your property increased the flood risk. NOW if you were building a house making changes I would suspect your county might have required you to address drainage , so not only would you have had to alter your land to see to it your home would not flood But they might have required you to create low lying retention areas. NOW your issue of the road not being maintained for 5 yrs is a different issue, wich is one to address with all parties legally tied to the road maint agreement. Before you created this pond did you check to see if drainage issues were regulated by your city /county /state govt including a dept of natural resources or any other regulatory agency that might have a say in drainage issues?
 

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