2019-05-08 Harvey - Trial Testimony Day 3 (Site Visit) - FULL

1 IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS
2
3
4 IN RE: UPSTREAM ADDICKS AND ) Master Docket No.
5 BARKER (TEXAS) FLOOD-CONTROL ) 17-9001L
6 RESERVOIRS. )
7 _________________________________)
8
9
10 Wednesday, May 8, 2019
11 1:00 p.m.
12 Site Visit
13
14
15
16
17
18
19 BEFORE: THE HONORABLE CHARLES F. LETTOW
20
21
22
23
24
25 Recorded by: David Lee, RMR, CCR
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Upstream Addicks and Barker (Texas) Flood-Control Reservoirs 5/8/2019
1 SITE VISIT INDEX

2
3 SITE/NAME PAGE
4 Barker Outlet Structure 3
5 Ongoing Construction Project for Replacement of
6 Barker Water Control Structure 16
7 Auxiliary Spillway on the Northwest Side of
8 Barker Reservoir 20
9 Northeast End of Addicks Dam 23
10 Sue Strebel 37
11 Kurt & Jean Wind 41
12 Woody & Stacy Lesikar 45
13 Christina Micu 51
14 Captain Ciliske, Willow Fork Diversion Channel 54
15 Juan & Ann Giron 59
16 Catherine Popovici 63
17 Elisio & Ana Soares 68
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19
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24
25
For The Record, Inc.

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1 SITE: BARKER OUTLET STRUCTURE

2 THE COURT: Okay. We’re at a site and, Messrs.
3 Charest and Shapiro, who is the designated photographer?
4 MR. VUJASINOVIC: I think it was me.
5 THE COURT: All right, Mr. Vujasinovic, all
6 right. And Ms. Tardiff?
7 MS. TARDIFF: Yes, sir.
8 THE COURT: Okay. We’re ready, Mr. Shapiro,
9 for you to introduce where we are and what we’re doing.
10 MR. SHAPIRO: Yes, sir.
11 THE REPORTER: State your name.
12 MR. SHAPIRO: This is William Shapiro with the
13 Department of Justice, representing the United States in
14 this matter. We’re here at the Barker outlet structure.
15 I’m going to introduce Captain Chuck Ciliske, who will be
16 providing an explanation of what we’re seeing here.
17 Captain Ciliske?
19 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Yes, sir. My name is Captain
20 Chuck Ciliske. I’m with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
21 and Addicks and Barker Reservoirs. So, first off,
22 welcome to Barker --
23 THE COURT: I’m going to swear you as a witness
24 in a moment, Captain Ciliske.
25 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Yes, sir.

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1 THE COURT: May I do that?

3 Whereupon,
4 CHARLES CILISKE
5 a witness, called for examination, having first been duly
6 sworn, was examined and testified as follows:
7 CAPTAIN CILISKE: So we’re sitting at the
8 Barker water control structure, a little bit of a
9 deviation from the change going to Addicks water control
10 structure based off of the dam top road condition and the
11 rain we’re getting in Houston this week.
12 Behind me is -- first, upstream of the dam is
13 to my left where you see all the water being impounded
14 currently. Downstream is Buffalo Bayou here as it moves
15 down towards downtown Houston and the Memorial area to my
16 right and to the east.
17 The structure immediately behind me here, the
18 gray steel superstructure is the water control structure
19 at Barker Dam. That’s where the six gates are operated
20 from an operator standing on the platform and the water
21 passes through from the upstream side through five
22 conduits to the downstream side.
23 As mentioned earlier, downstream, we have
24 Buffalo Bayou here. You can kind of see from where we’re
25 standing there are two ditches that do come in, one from

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1 the north and one from the south, Barker Ditch to the
2 north and Clodine Ditch coming from the south. Those are
3 both not in the reservoir. Those are drainage ditches.
4 Barker Ditch drains the I-10 corridor and Clodine Ditch
5 drains Mission Bend Subdivision in Fort Bend County.
6 THE REPORTER: Can you spell Clodine?
7 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Clodine is C-O -- C-L-O-D-I-
8 N-E.
9 THE REPORTER: Thank you.
10 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Yep.
11 Before the actual gate operations themselves,
12 you can see -- as you look at them, you’ll see some
13 mechanical equipment on there. To actually operate those
14 gates, an operator goes out to the big steel box at the
15 far end of the -- at the far end of the platform there,
16 puts a key into the box, presses an open or a close
17 button. We are not a remote-operated system. The
18 operator has to be on the platform. That’s due to
19 Antiterrorism Force Protection concerns. It can’t be
20 hacked. There’s no computers associated with it. And
21 there’s an access control platform you can see with gates
22 there.
23 Right now, you can see an elevated level of
24 water in the reservoir, particularly with Barker. We
25 received about one and a half inches of rain in the

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1 watershed last night with the storms that have occurred.

2 What we’re seeing is that water working its way through
3 from Fort Bend County and Harris County and the
4 associated tributaries of Barker Reservoir to the dam.
5 We do have the gates currently open. We closed them last
6 night at 5:00 p.m. and opened them roughly around 8:00
7 a.m. -- or 7:00 a.m. this morning. That was due to
8 concerns of flooding downstream.
9 We are not wide open. When I say “wide open,”
10 lots of gate feet. We are only three gate feet
11 currently. And that’s not enough to compensate for the
12 inflow, so we are beginning to detain water that we
13 received last night in the reservoir area. We expect,
14 with the rain coming in later this week, we will be
15 shutting the gates most likely this evening to reduce
16 that risk of flooding downstream.
17 Pass that --
18 THE COURT: Captain Ciliske?
20 THE COURT: It looks like there is a marker
21 that shows elevation. Is that for water?
22 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Yes, Your Honor. That’s --
23 so that’s a United States Geological Survey staff gage.
24 We do have a few different types of ways we measure the
25 water level out here. We have a visual measure, and then

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1 I’ve got a camera that I can -- that’s available to the

2 public as well if you go to the Addicks and Barker gage
3 sites, that you can read that staff gage from the camera.
4 And then on -- you’ll see various solar panels on the
5 actual structure out there. Those are measuring gages
6 from the USGS, as well as Harris County Flood Control
7 District.
8 THE REPORTER: Can you spell staff gage?
9 CAPTAIN CILISKE: S-T-A-F-F.
11 MR. LEVINE: Your Honor, Brad Levine for the
12 United States.
13 Captain Ciliske, can you point out a
14 piezometer, please?
15 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Yeah. So we do have one
16 piezometer right here. So the three poles -- throughout
17 the time on the dam, you’ll see three bollards, the
18 yellow markers there, and a central -- a central pipe.
19 Those are piezometers located across the dam. This one
20 particularly, if it has a silver box on top, that means
21 it’s an automated piezometer, which means that data is
22 automatically uploaded. The remainder of them that you
23 won’t see with the silver box, those are manually read.
24 They’re read via a -- it looks like a wheel that has a
25 measuring tape that goes down and beeps once it hits

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1 water at the bottom of it so you can measure that water

2 level in that well.
3 THE REPORTER: Can you spell piezometer?
4 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Ooh, P-I-E-Z-O-M-E-T-E-R.
5 THE REPORTER: Thank you, sir.
6 MR. LEVINE: Your Honor, if I may, I have a few
7 more questions for Captain Ciliske.
8 THE COURT: Mr. Levine?
9 MR. LEVINE: Thank you.
10 Captain Ciliske, what are the major creeks that
11 flow into Barker Reservoir?
12 CAPTAIN CILISKE: So in Barker Reservoir,
13 there’s two major creeks. You have Mason Creek and you
14 have Buffalo Bayou. Now, Buffalo Bayou has two major
15 inflows with both Buffalo Bayou proper and then Buffalo
16 Bayou Diversion Canal. So you’ve split flow as it comes
17 into the reservoir, but it is one main creek.
18 MR. LEVINE: And what are the major creeks that
19 flow into Addicks Reservoir?
20 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Addicks Reservoir has four
21 major tributaries that come into it. Langham and
22 Horsepen Creek come into the north side; Bear Creek comes
23 in through the west side; and in the southwest side,
24 South Mayde Creek.
25 THE REPORTER: Can you spell Langham?

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1 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Langham, L-A-N-G-H-A-M.

3 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Mm-hmm.
4 MR. LEVINE: And then, Captain Ciliske, can we
5 see the old Addicks office from this location?
6 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Yes. So I work out of the
7 Addicks field office. That’s the staff that runs the
8 operations at the reservoir. Our office is right behind
9 those trees. You can see the American flag and the Corps
10 flag flying. That’s the office that we operated out of
11 during the time of the flood. We took on about three or
12 four feet of water, so we’re currently across the street
13 where we met in temporary office space. We flooded when
14 Clodine Ditch came out of its banks.
15 MR. SHAPIRO: Captain Ciliske, we’re looking --
17 MR. SHAPIRO: This is William Shapiro. We’re
18 looking at one of the outlet structures. There’s a -- is
19 there another outlet structure on the other dam?
20 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Yes. So Barker and Addicks
21 water control structures are roughly the same. There’s
22 not much identical -- or there’s not much different
23 between them. They’re rather identical structures.
24 Addicks water control structure is right off of Park Row,
25 north of I-10, approximately a mile from here.

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1 MR. SHAPIRO: And then, finally, there are some

2 electronic material on the -- the post behind us at the
3 old outlet structure. What kind of electronic devices
4 are those?
5 CAPTAIN CILISKE: So we have a few different --
6 on the structure itself, we have a few different
7 measuring devices. You can see an inverted cone on a box
8 that hangs over the edge of the structure. That’s an
9 inverted radar sensor. That’s -- the USGS measures the
10 height or the elevation of the water within the
11 reservoir. And then you have associated transmission
12 equipment to get that data to be able to upload on all
13 their web pages. You also have a really old school box,
14 a plumb bob mechanical measuring device, out there as
15 well.
16 And then on the far left side, you have Harris
17 County Flood Control District rain measurement equipment.
18 So if you look at their flood warning system, they do
19 have a gage at the Barker and at the Addicks water
20 control structures so you can see how much rain has
21 fallen there. That’s their equipment for that.
22 MR. LEVINE: Your Honor, just a few more
23 questions.
24 THE COURT: Yes, Mr. Levine. And I have a
25 question when you are finished.

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1 MR. LEVINE: Thank you, Your Honor. Brad

2 Levine for the United States.
3 Captain Ciliske, where were you during the
4 Hurricane Harvey rain event?
5 CAPTAIN CILISKE: So throughout the storm of
6 Hurricane Harvey, I was in three locations. I started at
7 the Addicks field office. I sat up the evacuation point
8 when we flooded at the National Guard base down at
9 Westheimer, and then for the bulk of the storm, I spent
10 my time at the Addicks water control structure doing the
11 gate operations there.
12 THE REPORTER: Can you spell Westheimer?
13 CAPTAIN CILISKE: W-E-S-T-H-E-I-M-E-R.
14 MR. LEVINE: Captain Ciliske, can you describe
15 what it looked like when you were at the Addicks control
16 structure during Hurricane Harvey?
17 CAPTAIN CILISKE: So the Addicks water control
18 structure -- we reached 109.19 feet at the structure.
19 With that, we did flood the platform at the structure.
20 It was roughly ankle-deep water on the platform. I cut
21 the power to the structure once we were concerned about
22 the electronics going underwater and then we began to
23 operate manually from the structure.
24 At Barker, we were a little bit shallower.
25 Shallower. The water wasn’t quite as high. There was

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1 roughly about a six-inch gap between the top of that

2 platform behind me and the platform -- and the water
3 surface elevation.
4 Does that answer your question?
5 MR. LEVINE: Thank you. Your Honor?
6 THE COURT: Was that when you started to open
7 the gates?
8 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Yes, yes, Your Honor. So
9 operating -- I operated the structure throughout that --
10 the entirety of the storm, operated the gates before we
11 flooded the platform and after we flooded the platform.
12 THE COURT: All right, thank you.
13 THE REPORTER: Are we going off the record?
14 MR. EASTERBY: May I ask one, Your Honor?
15 THE COURT: Yes, go ahead.
16 MR. EASTERBY: Captain --
18 MR. EASTERBY: Armistead Easterby.
19 Captain Ciliske, during those gate operations,
20 were you following the water control manual?
21 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Sir, I was following the
22 direction of the dam safety officer.
23 MR. EASTERBY: Fair enough. Thank you, sir.
24 MR. CHAREST: And --

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1 MR. CHAREST: Daniel Charest. At the time of

2 those controls -- when you were exercising the control,
3 was it -- were the inflows into the reservoirs, by order
4 of magnitude, much greater than the outflows of the
5 releases?
6 CAPTAIN CILISKE: At the time, I didn’t have a
7 great feel for the inflows because I was rather isolated
8 and had a cell phone. But in retrospect, the inflows, to
9 the best of my knowledge, were significantly higher than
10 the outflows experienced.
11 MR. CHAREST: So even though today we only had
12 a little bit of rain, the opening of the gate is still
13 not sufficient to satisfy the inflows into the reservoir.
14 Is that correct?
15 MR. SHAPIRO: I’ll object.
17 MR. SHAPIRO: Shapiro. Vague question.
18 THE COURT: Sustained. Sustained.
19 MR. CHAREST: Even in light of the rain that
20 we’ve had in the past 24 hours, the opening of the gate
21 is insufficient to satisfy the inflows into the reservoir
22 and so it’s ponding behind the gates, correct?
23 THE REPORTER: That was Mr. Charest.
24 State your name.
25 MR. LEVINE: Mr. Levine, objection, vague.

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1 THE COURT: Overruled. You had testified

2 earlier about the water level rising, Captain Ciliske.
3 So I’ll allow you to answer the question.
4 CAPTAIN CILISKE: So -- okay, there’s a couple
5 compounding factors here right now. So we, right now,
6 during normal operations, we’re not in an extended watch
7 stage one or stage two or any type of induced surcharge
8 operations. Therefore, I manage Buffalo Bayou to be at
9 2,000 cubic feet per second downstream of us as measured
10 at the Piney Point gage. With that, I have to
11 accommodate not only the flows coming from stormwater
12 detention downstream, but also things that are just
13 running off naturally into the bayou.
14 So right now, we’re running at approximately
15 735 cubic feet per second combined release from both
16 dams. That allows me to stay under the 2,000 cubic feet
17 threshold and gives me -- because we have roughly a 30
18 percent chance of rain right now -- it gives me enough
19 where the water control manual says I have -- it’s safe
20 enough that I’m not going to induce any additional
21 flooding downstream. So we do have -- I don’t know what
22 the inflows are currently upstream of us, but I have --
23 what’s the word I’m looking for -- bottlenecked it right
24 here for a safe discharge downstream.
25 THE COURT: Captain Ciliske, you were onsite

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1 during Hurricane Harvey actually operating the gates and

2 taking care of the reservoirs and the impoundments, but
3 where was your supervisor located?
4 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Your Honor, my direct
5 supervisor was located in Galveston at the Emergency
6 Operations Center.
7 MR. LEVINE: If I may, Your Honor.
9 MR. LEVINE: Mr. Levine for the United States.
10 Captain Ciliske, can you state what your
11 current job title is with the Army Corps of Engineers?
12 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Yes, sir. So my job title is
13 the Houston Project Office Manager, which means I’m the
14 operations manager for Addicks and Barker Reservoir.
15 MR. LEVINE: And was that your role at the time
16 of Hurricane Harvey?
17 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Yes.
18 THE REPORTER: Are we going off the record?
19 THE COURT: Yes.
20 THE REPORTER: This is the certified reporter.
21 We’re going off the record. The time is 2:16.
22 (Off record.)
23
24
25

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1 SITE: ONGOING CONSTRUCTION PROJECT FOR REPLACEMENT OF

2 BARKER WATER CONTROL STRUCTURE
5 Captain --
6 THE REPORTER: Can you speak up?
7 MR. LEVINE: Sure. Mr. Levine for the United
8 States.
9 Captain Ciliske, where are we standing now and
10 what are we looking at?
11 CAPTAIN CILISKE: So behind me right here, this
12 is the second component of why we’re making the stop.
13 This is the ongoing construction project that began in
14 2015 for the replacement of the Barker water control
15 structures. Back in 2007, post-Katrina, the Corps did an
16 inventory of dams across the country. We determined
17 through our study here within the Galveston District that
18 we had issues associated with, at some point, piping
19 and/or seepage at the existing structure, which we just
20 looked at right behind us.
21 At the time, there were no observed open flows,
22 but we did, in 2011, conduct what we called interim risk
23 reduction measures, where we piped in a polyurethane
24 material and then a cementitious grout to stabilize that
25 structure and ensure its continued operation. But the

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1 long-term fix is this behind me here. The existing

2 structures are over 70 years old. This structure, which
3 is anticipated to come online and begin operation in
4 November or December of this year, weather-pending, will
5 replace the outdated structure behind you there. It’s
6 obviously a larger, more robust structure. Instead of
7 five conduits, it will have three conduits that will pass
8 the same amount of water, and it will have two gates per
9 conduit at the structure.
10 This structure is managed at the Addicks
11 resident office and there’s a similar construction
12 project going on at the Addicks water control structure
13 to replace it. It’s roughly two months ahead of
14 schedule, they’re staged slightly. But what you’re
15 seeing here is representative of the construction there
16 as well.
17 During the storm, what you’re standing on, this
18 loop that juts out upstream into the reservoir is what we
19 call an earthen cofferdam. It’s built to the same size
20 and specifications that the actual main embankment of the
21 dam is. It was in place during Harvey. And so during
22 Harvey, the main embankment here had already been
23 excavated and this cofferdam ensured the integrity of the
24 dam.
25 MR. LEVINE: Captain Ciliske, what’s the

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1 relative height of the cofferdam to the Barker Dam, if

2 you know?
3 CAPTAIN CILISKE: So it’s the exact same height
4 as the main embankment.
5 MR. LEVINE: Just so the record’s clear, the
6 next stop will be the northeastern portion of the Addicks
7 Reservoir. But did Your Honor have any questions while
8 we were standing here?
9 THE COURT: No -- well, let me just ask a quick
10 question. We’re standing on top of the embankment or the
11 cofferdam that’s actually associated with the embankment,
12 as you have stated. What’s the actual maximum height of
13 the control structure?
14 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Of the new -- Your Honor,
15 the --
16 THE COURT: The new control structure.
17 CAPTAIN CILISKE: I do not know, Your Honor.
18 THE COURT: What about the old one?
19 CAPTAIN CILISKE: So Barker’s control structure
20 is roughly 103 feet, to the best of my knowledge, Your
21 Honor.
22 THE COURT: So you’re saying during Hurricane
23 Harvey, the actual water level reached within six inches
24 of 103 feet?
25 CAPTAIN CILISKE: To the best of my

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1 recollection, Your Honor.

2 THE COURT: Thank you.
3 MR. SHAPIRO: If I can ask just a followup
4 question.
6 MR. SHAPIRO: Shapiro.
7 Did the water -- we’re standing on the
8 cofferdam or the embankment which is the same height,
9 correct?
10 CAPTAIN CILISKE: You’re correct. The
11 cofferdam’s height is the exact same as the main
12 embankment right over there that we just drove in on.
13 MR. SHAPIRO: Did the water behind the dam ever
14 get high enough where it came over the embankment or over
15 the cofferdam?
16 CAPTAIN CILISKE: No, sir.
17 MR. SHAPIRO: Thank you.
18 THE REPORTER: We’re going off the record at
19 2:21.
20 (Off record.)
21
22
23
24
25

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1 SITE: AUXILIARY SPILLWAY ON THE NORTHWEST SIDE OF

2 BARKER RESERVOIR
3 THE COURT: Mr. Levine, if you and Captain
4 Ciliske would explain where we are and what the
5 circumstances are.
6 MR. LEVINE: Thank you, Your Honor.
7 THE REPORTER: The time is 2:37.
8 MR. LEVINE: Brad Levine for the United States.
9 Captain Ciliske, where are we and what are we
10 seeing?
11 CAPTAIN CILISKE: So right now, we are standing
12 on the auxiliary spillway on the northwest side of Barker
13 Reservoir. If you look to the east, you can see where
14 the concrete does rise. That’s -- where that does rise
15 and that high point where that earthen embankment is and
16 is not capped by this roller-compacted concrete, that’s
17 the main embankment. As you traverse down here, this is
18 the auxiliary spillway, which is designed to pass two
19 feet of water flowing over the top of it as the structure
20 is designed as a whole.
21 With roller -- the way this is constructed, so
22 roller-compacted concrete a little bit different than
23 other types of concrete. It doesn’t have any steel in it
24 and it actually extends out on either side roughly 50
25 feet on the toe of the downstream side of the dam. And

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1 when I say -- and the elevation you’re standing at right

2 here is 104 feet. That’s according to NAVD 88, our datum
3 here. So you can see the difference over there on the
4 top. And for reference, the northeast side of Addicks,
5 which we’ll go to next, is 108 feet of elevation.
6 MR. LEVINE: When they put the roller-compacted
7 concrete in, did it change the elevation of the auxiliary
8 spillway?
9 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Not that I’m aware of.
10 MR. SHAPIRO: Your Honor --
12 MR. SHAPIRO: William Shapiro.
13 Captain Ciliske, were you -- do you know what
14 this area looked like during Hurricane Harvey?
15 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Sir, I don’t. I wasn’t on
16 this location during Hurricane Harvey.
17 MR. SHAPIRO: Very good, thank you.
18 THE COURT: Captain Ciliske, was there a flow
19 over this -- where we’re standing now -- during Hurricane
20 Harvey?
21 CAPTAIN CILISKE: No, Your Honor, there was no
22 flow over this structure.
23 THE COURT: So everything kept below 104 feet?
24 CAPTAIN CILISKE: That’s correct, Your Honor.
25 THE COURT: If there had been a flow, where

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1 would the water have gone? It obviously would flow down

2 from where we’re standing, but where would it go after
3 that?
4 CAPTAIN CILISKE: To the best of my knowledge,
5 Your Honor, it’s going to flow by gradient where it’s
6 most likely going to be the ditch right there, which
7 traverses the face of the dam back to the outlet work
8 structure in Buffalo Bayou, which is Barker Ditch.
10 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Yes, Your Honor.
11 MR. LEVINE: From here, we’ll travel to the
12 northeast end of the Addicks Dam.
14 MR. LEVINE: Oh, Brad Levine for the United
15 States.
16 MR. CHAREST: Daniel Charest for the
17 Plaintiffs. You said it was -- from the spillway here,
18 so you’re supposed to be -- it’s designed to hold two
19 additional feet of water flowing over by design. Is that
20 right?
21 CAPTAIN CILISKE: That’s correct.
22 MR. CHAREST: Thank you.
24 2:40.
25 (Off record.)

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1 SITE: NORTHEAST END OF ADDICKS DAM

3 MR. LEVINE: Brad Levine for the United States.
4 THE COURT: You may proceed.
5 MR. LEVINE: Thank you, Your Honor.
6 Captain Ciliske, you were asked a question at
7 the last stop about the ability of the spillway to pass
8 water. Was that correct?
10 MR. LEVINE: Does the concrete armoring change
11 that?
12 MR. CHAREST: Objection, leading. Objection,
13 leading.
15 MR. CHAREST: Daniel Charest.
16 THE COURT: Well, the question can be reframed.
17 To what extent, if any, does the armoring change that?
18 MR. LEVINE: Let’s do that. Same question.
19 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Your Honor, the armoring
20 doesn’t change it. It’s designed to pass over the top.
21 MR. SHAPIRO: Okay. Captain Ciliske, where are
22 we now and what are we looking at?
23 CAPTAIN CILISKE: So we are on the northeast
24 end of Addicks Dam. Behind me is the point where the
25 water did go around the end of the dam at the height of

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1 the pool. Roughly, the ground level there is 108 feet,

2 according to NAVD 88 and the building you’re seeing there
3 is on private property. That’s the end -- extent of
4 government property.
5 Like the other stop that we did, this is
6 another, again, auxiliary spillway armored with roller-
7 compacted concrete designed to pass flow over the top.
8 MR. LEVINE: During Harvey, did water pass over
9 the spillways here?
10 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Not over the main spillway.
11 It may have -- I never made it to this portion of it. It
12 may have gone over just barely into that concrete down
13 there. That’s where the pictures that if you look -- are
14 in evidence to see.
15 MR. LEVINE: So did water pass around the end
16 of the spillway?
17 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Yes, and there was
18 considerable flow on Tanner Road, as well.
19 MR. LEVINE: I’m sorry, can you repeat that?
20 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Yes, and there was
21 considerable flow on Tanner Road, as well.
22 THE REPORTER: T-A-N-N-E-R
23 CAPTAIN CILISKE: T-A-N-N-E-R.
24 MR. LEVINE: And where is Tanner Road?
25 CAPTAIN CILISKE: It’s on the opposite side of

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1 this building.
2 MR. LEVINE: And why did it pass along Tanner
3 Road, as well?
4 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Due to gradient, there was
5 sheet flow that flowed down Tanner Road and I believe
6 there’s open ditches on it.
7 MR. LEVINE: Your Honor, did you --
8 THE COURT: Where did the water go that flowed
9 around the toe -- or it’s not the toe, the end of the
10 embankment?
11 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Yes, Your Honor. So we had
12 -- I think the estimate is roughly 2,000 cubic feet a
13 second of water moving around the end of the dam.
14 THE COURT: Two thousand feet a second?
15 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Cubic feet per second.
16 THE COURT: Cubic feet.
17 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Passing into -- between here
18 and Beltway 8. A lot of that water was handled in the
19 subterranean stormwater network, so storm drains and
20 things like that. You also did have additional sheet
21 flow that traveled over the road surfaces. Since our
22 drainage system here in Houston, the roads are part of
23 that drainage system, it did move on that, and some of
24 that water did make it back to -- there’s a Harris County
25 Flood Control ditch at the face of this dam, south of

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1 Clay Road there, called Turkey Creek. Some of that did

2 navigate back there, as well.
3 MR. CHAREST: Your Honor --
6 Where we’re standing now is higher than that
7 private property we’re looking at, correct?
9 MR. CHAREST: And the water that flowed around
10 the end of the Addicks-Barker -- the Addicks Dam was
11 water that was retained by the dam and pushed onto
12 private property, correct?
13 MR. LEVINE: Objection, vague.
14 THE COURT: Overruled.
15 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Can you restate the question
16 again, sir?
17 MR. CHAREST: The water that flows around the
18 dam was water that was retained by the dam and pushed
19 onto that private property and flowed around the corner?
20 CAPTAIN CILISKE: So the water that flowed
21 around the end of the dam was at a certain elevation that
22 the dam could no longer hold.
23 MR. CHAREST: And pushed onto private property
24 as a result, right?
25 MR. LEVINE: Objection, form, vague as to the

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1 term “pushed.”
2 THE COURT: Sustained.
3 MR. CHAREST: It flowed onto private property
4 as a result of not being able to go around the dam and
5 the fact that the private property is lower than this
6 point here, correct?
7 CAPTAIN CILISKE: So, sir, it did flow around
8 the end of the dam. It did. And then it moved off of
9 government property as it flowed around.
10 MR. CHAREST: Off of government property onto
11 private property, yes?
13 MR. CHAREST: All right. Which direction and
14 how far away is the Lakes on Eldridge community?
15 CAPTAIN CILISKE: The exact distance -- it’s
16 pretty much on the other side of those trees. If you go
17 this way, you’ll hit a bump and then Lakes on Eldridge
18 will be a little bit higher right there, sir.
19 MR. CHAREST: When you say “higher,” you don’t
20 mean by elevation, right? It’s lower than where we are
21 now, correct?
22 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Correct, where we’re
23 standing. But it’s higher than the ground right behind
24 you.
25 MR. CHAREST: What’s your basis for that?

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1 CAPTAIN CILISKE: So Lakes on Eldridge has a

2 height of 107.5 feet.
3 MR. CHAREST: What part of Lakes on Eldridge do
4 you think has a height of 107.5 feet?
5 CAPTAIN CILISKE: The rear -- I’m trying to get
6 my directions, I apologize. If you’re coming up
7 Eldridge, then it would be on the northeast side, that
8 corner right there. Lakes on Eldridge is a raised
9 subdivision.
10 MR. CHAREST: Are you talking about LOE North
11 or LOE --
12 CAPTAIN CILISKE: No, not LOE North. LOE North
13 is on the other side of Tanner Road.
14 THE REPORTER: Can you spell LOE?
15 CAPTAIN CILISKE: L-O-E. It’s -- LOE is an
16 abbreviation for Lakes on Eldridge. I apologize.
17 MR. CHAREST: All right. And that’s inside the
18 Addicks pool, though, Lakes on Eldridge, yes?
19 CAPTAIN CILISKE: The maximum storage pool,
20 yes.
21 MR. CHAREST: Well, in fact, inside the Harvey
22 pool, too, right?
24 THE COURT: Captain Ciliske, the end of the
25 embankment here is 108 feet? Did I hear you correctly?

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1 CAPTAIN CILISKE: That’s -- that’s correct,

2 Your Honor. As it ties into the natural ground, it turns
3 into 108 feet.
4 THE COURT: Yes, thank you.
5 MR. SHAPIRO: If you could give us one minute,
6 Your Honor.
7 THE REPORTER: Mr. Shapiro asked for one
8 minute. This is the certified court reporter.
9 (Pause in the proceedings.)
10 MR. SHAPIRO: Shapiro.
11 Captain Ciliske, when we made our last stop and
12 we were looking at the roller-compacted concrete, I
13 thought I heard you say that the addition of the roller-
14 compacted concrete had not raised the elevation.
15 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Correct. It was built to the
16 same standard, to the best of my knowledge, the same
17 height according to the datum that we do use. There is a
18 difference in elevation here versus the southwest side of
19 Addicks associated with subsidence in the area,
20 particularly in Jersey Village.
21 MR. SHAPIRO: My question is, is the addition
22 -- did the addition of the roller-compacted concrete
23 change the height when we were back at the other dam?
24 CAPTAIN CILISKE: No.
25 MR. SHAPIRO: And did the addition of the

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1 roller-compacted concrete where we’re standing now at

2 Addicks, did that change the height of what was here
3 before?
5 MR. SHAPIRO: And you said something about
6 holding back two and a half -- I might have misunderstood
7 you. I thought you said holding back more -- two and a
8 half feet more. Do you remember answering some question
9 about holding back two and a half feet of water?
10 CAPTAIN CILISKE: I --
11 MR. CHAREST: Objection, misleads the testimony
12 -- mischaracterizes the testimony.
14 MR. CHAREST: Charest.
15 THE COURT: Well, you can answer the -- ask the
16 question in a different way, Mr. Shapiro.
17 MR. SHAPIRO: Did the addition of the roller-
18 compacted concrete cause the dam to hold back two and a
19 half feet more water than it would have held back without
20 that roller-compacted concrete?
21 CAPTAIN CILISKE: No, not to the best of my --
22 MR. CHAREST: Objection, vague. Same objection
23 I got. It’s vague. What conditions? What are we
24 talking about?
25 THE REPORTER: That’s Mr. Charest.

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1 THE COURT: Overruled. I think you were

2 talking about Hurricane Harvey.
3 CAPTAIN CILISKE: So, no, it did not.
4 MR. SHAPIRO: And did the addition of the
5 roller-compacted concrete on these spillways, did they
6 have -- did they cause the dams to hold back more water
7 than without the roller-compacted concrete during Harvey?
8 CAPTAIN CILISKE: No, the armoring of the
9 spillways is to increase the resiliency of the structure.
10 MR. SHAPIRO: What do you mean by that?
11 CAPTAIN CILISKE: So increasing the resiliency
12 of the structure means that if the spillways were
13 activated and if they were put into service and had two
14 feet of water flowing over them, the risk associated with
15 a dam breach would significantly decrease associated with
16 an earthen structure.
17 MR. SHAPIRO: Okay. I think that might be the
18 two and a half feet you mentioned earlier. What is this
19 two and a half feet of water thing?
20 CAPTAIN CILISKE: So I mentioned two feet of
21 water. They’re designed to pass two feet of water
22 flowing over the top of the auxiliary spillway, not where
23 it turns down into natural grade, but at the actual
24 measured height. So in this case, 110 feet, I believe,
25 and 104 feet plus 2, so 106 feet at Barker.

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1 THE REPORTER: I’m sorry, state that again.

2 CAPTAIN CILISKE: At Barker.
3 MR. SHAPIRO: So, sir, are you saying that if
4 there is two feet of water coming over the roller-
5 compacted spillway, that it is designed not to fail
6 during that?
7 CAPTAIN CILISKE: That’s what the roller-
8 compacted -- or that’s what the roller-compacted concrete
9 was in place to do and --
10 MR. SHAPIRO: And did --
11 CAPTAIN CILISKE: I’m sorry. That was the
12 completion.
13 MR. SHAPIRO: And did that happen during
14 Hurricane Harvey?
16 MR. SHAPIRO: Why not?
17 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Because the water never went
18 over the spillway, it went around the spillway, which is
19 the first thing -- because we do tie into natural grade
20 here, unlike most dams that tie into valley walls, we’re
21 -- we have very flat terrain. Our roller-compacted
22 spillway turns down into natural grade and it flows
23 around the end before it flows over the top.
24 MR. SHAPIRO: So did the addition of the
25 roller-compacted concrete have any effect on the amount

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1 water that was held in -- during Hurricane Harvey?

5 MR. IRVINE: Charles Irvine.
6 Captain Ciliske, if -- you’ve heard of the term
7 “spillway design flood?”
9 MR. IRVINE: Do you know the elevation of the
10 spillway design flood for Addicks?
11 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Not with 100 percent
12 certainty without looking at the piece of paper in my
13 office right now, sir.
14 MR. IRVINE: Does 115 sound about right?
15 CAPTAIN CILISKE: That sounds about right
16 because the -- so we’re 108 here. We’ve had subsidence
17 significant in the area. Addicks’ spillway in the -- on
18 the southwest corner is between 112 and 113. There’s
19 been minor subsidence there, not to the degree that we’ve
20 seen here. So that sounds correct, sir.
21 MR. IRVINE: So if we had a spillway design
22 flood, how much water would be flowing over this portion
23 of the dam?
24 CAPTAIN CILISKE: I don’t know the answer to
25 that, sir.

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1 MR. IRVINE: But it would be a significant

2 amount of water above our heads?
3 MR. LEVINE: Objection, form, vague.
4 THE REPORTER: That was Mr. Levine.
5 THE COURT: Overruled.
6 CAPTAIN CILISKE: I don’t know, sir. Again,
7 I’m speculating at that point because the subsidence has
8 -- in the area is going to change the height.
9 MR. IRVINE: Okay.
10 THE COURT: May I ask a question about
11 subsidence? You say this area --
12 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Yes, Your Honor.
13 THE COURT: -- with this floor -- essentially
14 gradient between the embankment and the natural ground --
15 has subsided more than the other end. Is that correct?
16 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Yes, sir. So if you look at
17 a subsidence map in the entire city of Greater Houston,
18 there’s two main epicenters of subsidence. One of them
19 is to the southeast side of town and not relevant in this
20 case, Your Honor. The other one is pretty much Jersey
21 Village. Due to excessive groundwater pumping in the
22 area and we’ve reduced the water table, it’s been able to
23 compress the ground and the ground slowly sinks over
24 time. It has not affected, in great detail, on the
25 southwest corner of Addicks Reservoir or Barker

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1 Reservoir. Because of the proximity of this location to

2 Jersey Village, it has affected this location.
3 THE COURT: So this is really the north or a
4 little bit northeast. Is that correct?
5 CAPTAIN CILISKE: That’s correct, Your Honor.
6 We’re on the northeast corner of Addicks Reservoir.
7 THE COURT: Do you know how much subsidence has
8 affected this particular area?
9 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Between four and five feet,
10 Your Honor.
11 THE COURT: Wow. I’m sorry.
13 MR. SHAPIRO: William Shapiro.
14 Do you know whether that subsidence had any
15 effect on the amount of water that was held back by these
16 dams by Hurricane Harvey?
17 CAPTAIN CILISKE: It should have reduced the
18 upstream pools during Hurricane Harvey because it was
19 design it would not flow -- if it stayed as designed, it
20 would not have flowed around, to the best of my
21 knowledge.
22 MR. SHAPIRO: And when you said “if it had
23 stayed as designed, it wouldn’t have flowed around,” do
24 you mean flowed around the end of the northern bound --
25 the end of Addicks?

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1 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Correct. So we went to

2 109.19 feet, and if we were at 112 here or -- between 112
3 and 113 like we are on the southeast side, it wouldn’t
4 have flowed around the end.
6 THE REPORTER: We are going off the record at
7 3:16. This is the certified court reporter.
8 (Off record.)
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1 SITE: SUE STREBEL

2 THE COURT: You may proceed.
4 MR. CHAREST: This is Daniel Charest. I’ll ask
5 Sue Strebel to come forward. And just to set the stage,
6 Ms. Strebel was the eyewitness here for the day of the
7 flood. If you could just tell the Judge generally what
8 you saw --
9 THE REPORTER: Are you going to put her under
10 oath?
11 MS. STREBEL: Sure. We came in by kayak across
12 this way. I had always wanted to kayak across the lake,
13 but there’s no boating here, but we came up, and we came
14 right up to the windows, looked in, could see that there
15 was water all over everything. Fortunately, most of our
16 furniture here has wooden legs, so it didn’t get too bad,
17 but the rugs, of course, were totally saturated.
18 And I did come around to the front, as well,
19 and we had parked our security vehicle up here, and the
20 water was up to the bottom of it. So we didn’t know if
21 we were at peak at that time or not, but we were as high
22 as I thought we could really be without substantial
23 damage, but it did get a little higher.
24 THE REPORTER: Can you state and spell your
25 full name for the record?

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1 MS. STREBEL: Sure. The name is Sue Strebel, S

2 T R E B E L.
4 MS. STREBEL: You’re welcome.
5 MR. CHAREST: And how much higher did it get
6 after that, ma’am?
7 MS. STREBEL: We probably only got about four
8 inches, but it was enough so that we couldn’t get access
9 to the building, so then it did saturate up, and we did
10 have to cut out up to four-foot-high.
11 MR. CHAREST: Throughout the entire structure?
12 MS. STREBEL: Throughout the entire -- sorry.
13 Throughout the entire structure.
14 MR. CHAREST: And in what condition was your
15 home at that time?
16 MS. STREBEL: My home was flooded as well. So
17 to be on the board, and as was Dave Westphal’s, the
18 president’s, to be dealing with our own personal
19 significant issues and then to deal with this was pretty
20 overwhelming.
21 MR. CHAREST: And what day did you kayak in?
22 Do you recall?
23 MS. STREBEL: I was kayaking almost every day.
24 We did the day before, and I have -- saw that it wasn’t
25 flooding and thought, oh, great, we may have, you know,

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1 escaped any damages, but then the 29th is when the water
2 started coming. I had kayaked over first the 28th when
3 there was water everywhere but not in the buildings. And
4 then not the 29th, but then on the 30th, and that’s when
5 we saw the damage and it had abated in.
6 MR. CHAREST: We have other questions and
7 pictures that we’ll do in court itself, sir.
8 If the Court has any questions?
9 THE COURT: No, thank you.
10 MS. STREBEL: Did you want to go through the
11 building, or do you want an outline of what’s here?
12 MR. CHAREST: I think we’re okay.
13 THE COURT: I think we’re okay.
14 MS. STREBEL: Okay.
15 MR. CHAREST: Yes. Thank you very much.
16 THE COURT: Mr. Tardiff?
17 MS. TARDIFF: Your Honor, I think we’re going
18 to reserve questions as well.
20 MS. TARDIFF: Thank you.
21 THE COURT: It still helps to see it. Thank
22 you.
23 THE REPORTER: Go off the record?
24 THE COURT: Yes.

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1 3:35.
2 THE REPORTER: Go ahead.
3 MR. WESTPHAL: W E S T P, as in Peter, H A L.
4 THE REPORTER: And state your full name.
5 MR. WESTPHAL: David Westphal.
6 THE REPORTER: Thank you, sir.
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1 SITE: KURT & JEAN WIND

2 THE REPORTER: The time is 3:48.
3 THE COURT: We’re ready to proceed.
4 Mr. Charest?
5 MR. CHAREST: Your Honor, this is Kurt Wind,
6 one of the named Plaintiffs in the case, and we’re at his
7 location, and he’s joined with -- Ms. --
8 MR. WIND: Jean.
9 MR. CHAREST: -- thank you, Jean Wind. Thank
10 you.
11 THE REPORTER: I’m sorry, the name again?
12 MR. WIND: Kurt, K U R T.
13 THE REPORTER: And your wife’s name.
14 MR. WIND: And Jean, J E A N.
15 THE REPORTER: And can you spell your last
16 name?
17 MR. WIND: W I N D.
19 MR. CHAREST: Go ahead and tell the Judge, sir,
20 about what you recall from the events, the flood, just
21 briefly as a summary if you would.
24 MR. WIND: As the flood -- as Harvey came
25 onshore, and we had a lot of rain obviously, and we

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1 actually -- when we heard the news on TV that Twin Lakes

2 was one of the subdivisions that was going to flood, we
3 didn’t know if we were going to get a half an inch or 10
4 feet of water here, didn’t know, so we started carrying
5 everything that we could carry upstairs to keep it from
6 getting wet.
7 And then on that Monday, we evacuated about
8 7:00 that evening, and so we never got to see the water
9 actually come up into the house. And so we were trying
10 to get in touch with neighbors that stayed here in the
11 subdivision over the next day to find out if the
12 subdivision did, in fact, flood. And the neighbor two
13 doors over confirmed that yes, we had water in the house,
14 but he didn’t know how much. And so we made it back over
15 here that Wednesday.
16 MS. WIND: Excuse me.
17 MR. WIND: Yes.
18 MS. WIND: Our neighbor across the street, the
19 neighbor directly across the street, stayed upstairs, and
20 she took pictures of the water as it entered our house,
21 as it slowly was coming to the house Tuesday.
22 MR. WIND: And so we made it back over here to
23 the subdivision on Wednesday, about 3:00, and couldn’t
24 get to the subdivision because it was completely under
25 water. And we entered the neighborhood through the back

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1 of the subdivision through a fence, through the

2 neighborhood to our north, Concord Bridge, and waded
3 through water waist-deep through the back of the
4 neighborhood, and we were picked up by a flat-bottom
5 boat, and they ferried us up to the front of the
6 subdivision.
7 And Twin Lakes, even though there’s actually
8 four lakes here, was completely covered and it looked
9 like one body of water. So the boat drove up into our
10 driveway and dropped us off, and there’s still a
11 waterline on the garage door showing where the water came
12 up around the perimeter of the house. And we entered the
13 home, and the water was near ankle-deep still at that
14 point, and we’re very lucky that none of us were
15 electrocuted because we found that the power had not
16 tripped.
17 And there was actually a surge protector in my
18 office that was smoldering and smoking and was melting
19 basically because it was wet. And so I told my son to be
20 still, let me go flip off all the breakers, so
21 fortunately none of us were injured. And so that’s kind
22 of the story of what we saw when we first got here.
23 THE REPORTER: Can you spell Concord?
24 MR. WIND: Concord is C O N C O R D, Concord
25 Bridge.

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2 THE COURT: Are there any further questions of
3 the Winds?
4 MR. MITBY: No, Your Honor.
5 THE REPORTER: State your name, please.
6 MR. MITBY: Steven Mitby, M I T B Y. I
7 represent the Winds. We have no questions -- further
8 questions at this time, and they will testify at trial.
9 THE COURT: It’s good to see the property and
10 to know what’s involved. We appreciate that. Thank you,
11 indeed.
12 MR. WIND: Mm-hmm.
13 MR. LEVINE: Your Honor, may I just make one
14 procedural point for the record?
17 From this stop at the Winds, we’re going to go to the
18 Burnham property. On route, we’ll pass over Langham
19 Creek.
21 THE REPORTER: Is that it?
22 THE COURT: That’s it.
24 3:53.
25 (Off record.)

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1 SITE: WOODY & STACY LESIKAR

2 THE REPORTER: We’re going on the record. The
3 time is 4:41.
4 MR. EASTERBY: Yes, sir, Your Honor, I’ll be
5 candid with you. My plan was to reserve questions until
6 trial for this, but if you like, I can ask Mr. Lesikar
7 some questions now and his daughter, whatever your
8 preference is.
9 THE COURT: Why don’t you just provide the
10 setting while we’re here and can actually see it.
11 MR. EASTERBY: Yes, sir, Armistead Easterby.
12 We are standing in the terminal building of the West
13 Houston Airport. I’ve got Woody and Stacy Lesikar over
14 here to my right. Can you guys come a little bit closer,
15 please?
16 MR. EASTERBY: Mr. Lesikar, were you here
17 during Harvey?
18 MR. LESIKAR: No, sir. I was not here the days
19 that it was flooding.
20 THE REPORTER: Can you spell your name?
21 MR. LESIKAR: Lesikar, L E S I K A R.
23 MR. EASTERBY: Stacy, were you here during
24 Harvey?
25 MS. LESIKAR: Yes, I was here the entire time

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1 during Harvey.
2 MR. EASTERBY: Could you just give the Court,
3 please, an estimate of about how much water came into the
4 terminal building?
5 MS. LESIKAR: About eight inches.
6 MR. EASTERBY: Okay. And do you know when that
7 was?
8 MS. LESIKAR: It was Tuesday night, I would
9 say, that it was -- it was coming in early Tuesday
10 morning, but I would say it topped it somewhere around --
11 I don’t know, 4:00 in the morning or something like that.
12 MR. EASTERBY: Did you take a whole lot of
13 pictures during Harvey?
14 MS. LESIKAR: I took about 2,000.
15 MR. EASTERBY: Would seeing those help refresh
16 your recollection?
17 MS. LESIKAR: Oh, absolutely.
18 MR. EASTERBY: Then I think we’d like to
19 reserve our questions until the time of trial so she can
20 see the photos and refresh her recollection, if that’s
21 okay.
22 THE COURT: Is there anything about this
23 building that was particular and that came to your
24 attention as a result of the water?
25 MS. LESIKAR: I guess I’m not sure -- I never

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1 thought water would come in here, so I -- water, it’s

2 amazing how it seeps everywhere, and it gets in every
3 little -- every little crevice. And it travels various
4 places, so I guess I’m not sure if I’m answering your
5 question correctly.
6 THE COURT: No, that’s fine. And we’ll get
7 more later. There are other facilities that you have at
8 the airport, and we can talk about those at trial.
9 MS. LESIKAR: Okay.
11 MS. LESIKAR: Thank you.
12 MR. EASTERBY: Your Honor, one last item. I
13 remember you asking if there were places adjacent to the
14 terminal building that also took on water. If you like,
15 we can see those. I think we’d have to go out this way
16 to the runway area to see them.
17 THE COURT: Let’s do that. Could we do that,
18 please? And is it Ms. Lesikar?
19 MS. LESIKAR: Stacy.
20 THE COURT: Stacy?
21 MS. LESIKAR: Oh, yes, Ms. Lesikar, Your Honor.
22 THE COURT: Ms. Lesikar, why don’t you help us.
23 (Brief pause.)
24 MS. LESIKAR: Please be careful when you go
25 outside and come back in. It can get slippery.

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1 (Brief pause.)
2 MR. EASTERBY: Okay, Armistead Easterby again.
3 Stacy, we’re looking south right now, correct?
4 MS. LESIKAR: Yes, sir.
5 MR. EASTERBY: What are those tank-looking
6 objects over there?
7 MS. LESIKAR: That’s our fuel farm.
8 MR. EASTERBY: And if you look beyond that and
9 see those trees, do you know who owns that land?
10 MS. LESIKAR: The trees is where the Corps owns
11 the property.
12 MR. EASTERBY: Thank you.
13 And we can move over here now, Your Honor, to
14 see the other part of the terminal parcel that has some
15 other equipment, if you’d like.
16 THE COURT: Did you have hangars that were
17 affected at the time?
19 THE COURT: And are we looking at the hangars
20 now? Essentially, it must be to the -- what is that, the
21 east?
22 MS. LESIKAR: The east.
23 THE COURT: Right. Okay. Thank you.
24 MR. EASTERBY: So, Stacy, the eastern portion
25 where we see all the aircraft parked over there, were any

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1 of those impacted by the pool during that August 29th,

2 August 30th time period?
4 MR. EASTERBY: Can you just describe that very
5 briefly?
6 MS. LESIKAR: There was probably a good couple
7 of feet in the hangars, and then over by the T hangars, a
8 couple feet, and there were a couple of planes lost
9 during the flood.
11 THE REPORTER: Are we off the record?
12 THE COURT: We’re off the record. Thank you.
14 4:46.
15 (Off record.)
16 MS. LESIKAR: I was just going to mention that
17 the fuel trucks and the tugs, we did everything we could
18 to move them to get them out of any place to where water
19 would be. The water just creeped everywhere.
20 THE COURT: All right. Thank you.
21 MR. EASTERBY: And, Ms. Stacy, are we looking
22 north now from the terminal building?
23 MS. LESIKAR: Yes.
24 MR. EASTERBY: And what are you describing in
25 terms of tugs and whatever else you just said?

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1 MS. LESIKAR: Okay, the tugs are just on the

2 other side of the truck. You can’t see them right this
3 second just because of the rain, but there is about seven
4 electric tugs and then there’s -- there’s six fuel
5 trucks.
6 MR. EASTERBY: Okay. And last question, Stacy,
7 if you look north about 200 yards, is that one of the
8 incoming tributaries of Addicks?
10 MR. EASTERBY: And which one is it?
11 MS. LESIKAR: Bear Creek.
12 MR. EASTERBY: Were you there taking some
13 pictures during Harvey of Bear Creek?
15 MR. EASTERBY: Okay. Thank you, Stacy.
16 (Off record.)
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1 SITE: CHRISTINA MICU

2 THE REPORTER: We’re going on the record at
3 5:29. State your name.
4 MR. CHAREST: Daniel Charest, and Christina
5 Micu is one of our clients here.
6 MR. CHAREST: Ms. Micu, can you explain to the
7 Court just briefly whether you were here during Harvey --
8 and I know the answer -- but tell us and the Judge the
9 extent of flooding inside here and just generally the
10 repairs you’ve done as a result.
11 THE REPORTER: State your name for the record
12 and spell it.
13 MS. MICU: Hi. My name is Christina Micu, C H
14 R I S T I N A, M I C U.
15 Okay, and so the water was about two feet, so
16 it was about to here. Everything on the first floor
17 was damaged and thrown out. We had to throw everything
18 out -- all the appliances, the cabinets, all plumbing,
19 the floors, the wood floors we had to pull up, the tile,
20 we had to take up the tile. Under the tile was black
21 mold. There was also mold in the AC decks -- AC ducts,
22 so we had to do some extra work to get those cleaned out.
23 We had to take out the fireplace because -- the
24 fireplace over there. It also had gotten water in it, so
25 I had to take that out, and we also had to do mold

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1 remediation, so spraying of chemicals twice a day for at

2 least seven days, and also dehumidifying the house.
3 Yeah.
4 MR. CHAREST: How long were you out of your
5 house for?
6 MS. MICU: I was out of the house for -- for
7 more than a year.
8 MR. CHAREST: And how many -- but where did you
9 live and how many people lived in the apartment with you?
10 MS. MICU: We lived in an apartment, in a town
11 home, actually, more north part of Katy. It was me, my
12 son, my daughter, my other son, my husband, and then also
13 sometimes my grand -- my in-laws, yeah.
14 MR. CHAREST: And how recently have you moved
15 back in?
16 MS. MICU: The house was uninhabitable until
17 about last summer, and then my son had moved back in and
18 he stayed for a couple months.
19 MR. CHAREST: Thank you.
21 MS. MICU: You’re welcome.
22 THE REPORTER: Can you spell Katy?
23 MS. MICU: K A T Y.
25 Off the record?

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1 THE COURT: Yes.

2 Thank you very much.
4 5:31.
5 (Off record.)
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1 SITE: CAPTAIN CILISKE

2 (WILLOW FORK DIVERSION CHANNEL)
4 5:40.
6 Captain Ciliske, what water body are we looking
7 at there?
8 CAPTAIN CILISKE: So this is the Willow Fork
9 Diversion Channel, and this is pretty representative of
10 the large improved localized drainage channels that come
11 into the reservoir. This is -- so Buffalo Bayou does
12 split about four or five miles that way. Willow Fork
13 Diversion Channel comes in here, a manmade channel, and
14 then Buffalo Bayou proper comes in just to our north, up
15 as well. This one’s maintained by the Willow Fork
16 Diversion District -- or Willow Fork Drainage District, I
17 apologize. And the Buffalo Bayou mainstem is managed by
18 Fordham County Drainage District. So...
19 MR. LEVINE: What does Willow Fork Diversion
20 Channel drain into?
21 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Willow Fork -- both of these
22 -- this one, they all drain into Barker Reservoir.
23 MR. LEVINE: Thank you.
24 THE COURT: To what extent are we actually on
25 government-owned property at the moment?

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1 CAPT. CILISKE: So right now, we’re not on

2 government property. It’s tough to see. Pretty much
3 where that tree is is was where the start of government
4 property, and then you can see the neighborhood on the
5 south side of the diversion channel, Your Honor, where
6 those homes and -- and those trees begin, that’s where
7 government property would begin as well.
8 MR. LEVINE: Sorry, just for the record, Mr.
9 Levine for the United States. So the record is clear, a
10 moment ago, you said where that tree is. Which tree are
11 you referring to, or can you use some other landmark so
12 that the Judge can understand what -- where the
13 government land starts?
14 THE COURT: It’s a couple hundred yards ahead.
15 Is it true it’s a couple hundred yards from us?
16 CAPT. CILISKE: Yes, Your Honor. Yes, Your
17 Honor. I was looking for a sign. We lost it during
18 Harvey and it has not been replaced.
19 THE COURT: Okay. We had testimony earlier,
20 but you wouldn’t know that, about two -- well, a
21 diversion channel and then what was the other one?
22 MS. TARDIFF: Willow Fork of Buffalo Bayou.
24 MS. TARDIFF: Kris Tardiff.
25 THE COURT: So this is actually the diversion

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1 channel. There was another one. There are two that flow
2 into Barker; is that correct?
3 CAPT. CILISKE: That’s correct, Your Honor. So
4 this is the Willow Fork Diversion Channel. We crossed it
5 prior to our last stop, Buffalo Bayou proper.
6 THE COURT: Yes.
7 CAPT. CILISKE: Just a little bit over here.
9 And the amount of water in the channel right
10 now is typical or not?
11 CAPT. CILISKE: This is elevated water right
12 now, Your Honor. So as it currently stands, desiltation
13 has occurred north -- or excuse me, west, about where
14 we’re standing, has not occurred into government property
15 yet from the Willow Fork Drainage District, so there’s
16 limited conveyance in the channel right now.
17 THE COURT: Okay. What is the depth of water
18 in the channel, if you know, about where we’re standing.
19 CAPT. CILISKE: I don’t know the exact answer.
20 I would -- 5 to 10 feet, Your Honor.
21 THE COURT: I’m trying to figure out the volume
22 of flow. Do you know the volume of flow?
23 CAPT. CILISKE: The volume of flow right now
24 should be less than 500 cubic feet per second, should be,
25 but I’m not looking at the gages, so...

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1 THE COURT: But there are gages that measure

2 that?
3 CAPT. CILISKE: To the best of my knowledge,
4 yes.
6 MR. CHAREST: Daniel Charest. I’ve done a
7 screen shot of the satellite image of where we are. Is
8 that accurate in terms of where we are that you’re
9 looking at?
10 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Pretty -- pretty accurate.
11 It’s a large blue circle, but, yes, pretty accurate.
12 MR. LEVINE: Along the diversion channel,
13 correct?
15 MR. LEVINE: And looking across the diversion
16 channel, that’s Cinco Ranch that we just left.
17 CAPTAIN CILISKE: That’s Canyon Gate. Canyon
18 Gate.
19 MR. LEVINE: Thank you, Canyon Gate that we
20 just left, correct?
21 CAPTAIN CILISKE: That’s correct.
22 MR. CHAREST: All right, thank you.
23 THE REPORTER: We’re going off the record?
24 MR. CHAREST: Oh, actually, I’ll offer this
25 into evidence, the screen shot.

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1 THE COURT: You can do that later.

2 MR. CHAREST: Yes, sir. Thank you.
3 THE REPORTER: Off the record?
4 THE COURT: Yes.
6 5:45.
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1 SITE: JUAN & ANN GIRON

3 5:43. State your name.
4 MR. EASTERBY: This is Armistead Easterby.
5 Mr. Giron, could you please introduce yourself.
6 MR. GIRON: Yeah. I’m Juan Carlos Giron
7 Vazquez.
8 THE REPORTER: Could you spell it?
9 MR. GIRON: The whole thing? J U A N, C A R L
10 O E S, G I R O N, V A Z Q U Z [sic].
11 MR. EASTERBY: And, Mr. Giron, could you
12 introduce yourself, please.
13 THE REPORTER: State and spell your name.
14 MS. GIRON: I’m Ann Giron, A N N, last name G I
15 R O N.
17 MR. EASTERBY: Mr. Giron, were you here when
18 Harvey made landfall on August 25th?
19 MR. GIRON: No.
20 MR. EASTERBY: Did you guys leave town?
21 MR. GIRON: Yes, we did.
22 MR. EASTERBY: Did one of your neighbors happen
23 to take some photos of your house while you were gone?
24 MR. GIRON: Yes.
25 MR. EASTERBY: Could you kindly just point the

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1 Court to which neighbor that is?

2 And you’re pointing to 4307 Cassidy Park Lane?
3 MR. GIRON: Yes.
4 MR. EASTERBY: What is their name?
5 MR. GIRON: Latricia Walker.
6 THE REPORTER: Can you spell Latricia?
7 MR. GIRON: L A T R I C A, Walker.
8 MS. GIRON: C I A.
9 MR. GIRON: Oh, C I A, Walker, W A L K E R.
11 MR. EASTERBY: Mr. Giron, this trailer we see
12 in your driveway, have you been living in this since
13 approximately September of 2017?
14 MR. GIRON: No. We were in hotels, and then
15 they got us this -- FEMA got us this trailer in January
16 13 or 14th. I’m not sure right now.
18 That’s all we have for now, Your Honor.
19 THE COURT: We’ll get testimony about the
20 Girons’ house at trial; is that correct?
21 MR. EASTERBY: Yes, sir. And, Your Honor, if
22 you would like, we can go through the house through the
23 back gate, and then you would be able to see what I call
24 Upper Buffalo Bayou, which is called Willow Fork of
25 Buffalo Bayou. It’s directly behind this house, if you

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1 like.
2 THE COURT: I don’t think we need to do that
3 unless you do.
4 MR. EASTERBY: I don’t think it’s necessary
5 either, Your Honor. I just wanted to ask.
8 MR. CHAREST: Your Honor, if you want to see
9 inside, this is one of the homes that we discussed at
10 pretrial that has been mucked out but no repairs have
11 been made to it as of yet, so you can get an idea of what
12 that looks like.
13 THE COURT: Could we get an idea of the water
14 that was inside the house, how high up on the walls it
15 went?
16 MR. EASTERBY: Sure.
17 Mrs. Giron, do you recall getting a photo taken
18 of you by that fence over there after Harvey?
19 MS. GIRON: Yes, I do.
20 MR. EASTERBY: And about how high was the water
21 on that fence, if you can recall?
22 MS. GIRON: I can recall. I can still see the
23 waterline on the fence, and I can go stand over there if
24 you would like.
25 MR. EASTERBY: It’s okay. How much water did

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1 you guys get in your house, if you know, in proximate

2 inches?
3 MS. GIRON: I really don’t know right now.
4 Anywhere up to 10 inches, maybe a foot. I’m not sure.
5 MR. EASTERBY: Okay, thank you.
8 THE COURT: That’s it.
10 5:56.
11 (Off record.)
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1 SITE: CATHERINE POPOVICI

2 THE REPORTER: We are going on the record at
3 6:17.
4 MR. CHAREST: We are at the home of Catherine
5 Popovici, one of the Test Property Plaintiffs.
7 MR. CHAREST: I’m Daniel Charest.
8 MR. CHAREST: Ms. Popovici, please tell the
9 Judge about your memory of the water coming and going
10 during the flooding.
11 MS. POPOVICI: Mm-hmm.
12 THE REPORTER: State your name and spell it.
13 MS. POPOVICI: I’m Catherine Popovici, C A T H
14 E R I N E, P O P O V, as in Victor, I C, as in Charlie,
15 I.
16 So, Your Honor, we’re -- we were able to stay
17 in our house through the entire flooding experience
18 because we were not under a mandatory evacuation order.
19 We were all physically fit enough, unlike my neighbor who
20 had some medical issues was evacuated, so we didn’t want
21 to use up the first responders’ time.
22 So the first thing I’d like you to observe is
23 that we are in the middle of neighborhoods. Beyond my
24 subdivision is a whole other subdivision. That is
25 looking east, so the Barker Dam is way beyond that, just

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1 so you understand. You passed several subdivisions

2 coming here, and when you leave, you will pass several
3 subdivisions leaving. So I’m in the middle of
4 subdivisions.
5 THE COURT: Can you estimate how far you are
6 from the actual dam and reservoir itself?
7 MS. POPOVICI: I can’t, but maybe Mr. Ciliske
8 has a better idea.
9 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Probably a half a mile.
10 MS. POPOVICI: No, no, no, no. From the dam --
11 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Oh, from the dam, about --
12 THE REPORTER: Just a minute.
13 MS. POPOVICI: Yeah, from the dam, I’m thinking
14 five-miles-ish, but I don’t --
15 CAPTAIN CILISKE: I apologize, Your Honor. I
16 have to look at a map.
17 THE COURT: Oh, there’s nothing to apologize
18 for. Well, we have maps.
19 MS. POPOVICI: Oh, okay, so, now we are
20 actually in the reservoir, though, technically, which we
21 now know. So the water came up my front step here, so --
22 and it stopped. It didn’t get over the lip of the step,
23 but it stopped there. We had put garbage bags taped with
24 duct tape to prevent water from coming in the house, and
25 I took measurements actually, so the water came up to my

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1 foundation. And we’re just going to walk over here.

2 So keep in mind, my house did not flood, and my
3 neighbor’s house did not flood, but the houses to the
4 east of that did flood inside the house. And if you walk
5 over here, there’s a slight elevation that the street
6 makes all the way up the street. I took measurements
7 over here. Just walking over to the house.
8 I couldn’t go in and out of my front door
9 because we had blocked that door off in case we flooded.
10 We thought the house would flood. So I came out here in
11 our wading -- my wading boots, and I took measurements
12 right here. The water came up our foundation, and it
13 stopped a few inches from where my house begins. I
14 started taking measurements on August 29th, which is
15 after Hurricane Harvey was over because the water began
16 to rise, and I began to realize that even though it
17 wasn’t raining, the water was rising and our house would
18 probably flood. So I was trying to do these calculations
19 to explain to my husband why it was important to
20 evacuate. But I failed to persuade him.
21 Everybody else in our neighborhood left. We
22 couldn’t drive out of the neighborhood for several days,
23 and the only reason we were able to get out on September
24 1st is we had a big truck that we were able to drive out.
25 If we had a sedan, we couldn’t have done that.

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3 THE COURT: Yes. We have a good picture of the
4 situation. Thank you.
5 MS. POPOVICI: I also wanted to talk about the
6 impact. This water was very dirty. Initially, it was
7 clean, but after a couple of days, it was very dirty. It
8 smelled of fecal material and dead animal material and
9 chemicals, and that’s what’s been absorbed into my lawn.
10 My lawn is where my kids, growing up, would play on the
11 slip-and-slide and play in the sprinklers. And now I
12 don’t think that my property is safe because of this.
14 MS. POPOVICI: Thank you.
16 Ms. Popovoci, I’ve done another screen shot of
17 our area. Just to answer your question about how far
18 away we are from the dam, does this look like your
19 neighborhood?
20 MS. POPOVICI: Mm-hmm, yes.
21 MR. CHAREST: All right, thank you.
23 THE COURT: So we can cover that in testimony
24 at trial?
25 MR. CHAREST: Yes, sir.

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3 THE COURT: Yes, that’s it.
5 6:22.
6 (Off record.)
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1 SITE: ELISIO & ANA SOARES

2 THE REPORTER: We are going on the record at
3 6:33.
4 MR. CHAREST: Mr. Soares, good afternoon, and
5 thank you for having us in your home.
7 MR. CHAREST: I’m Daniel Charest.
8 Please tell Judge Lettow basically how much
9 water you had in the house, how high it went, and what
10 you’ve done to repair from that.
11 MR. SOARES: Yes.
12 THE REPORTER: State your name and spell it.
13 MR. SORRES: My name is Elisio Soares, S O A R
14 E S, E L I S I O, the first name.
15 We had less than a foot of water inside the
16 home, and we had water all over the back yard, the front
17 yard, and we had to gut out four feet down, walls,
18 drywalls, insulation, doors completely, flooring that we
19 used to have, wood flooring. We pulled it -- gutted out
20 everything. Tile from the kitchen, appliances,
21 furniture, bedroom, bathroom, master bathroom, over --
22 over here on this side of the house. And the garage and
23 the kitchen and the dining room, everything.
24 Furniture -- starting with the furniture and
25 everything was soaked with water, so we started to move

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1 out as soon as we could. And we needed some volunteers

2 to help us because it was a tremendous amount of work for
3 just us.
4 MR. CHAREST: And how did you arrive at your
5 house when the flood happened?
6 MR. SOARES: On the 31st, I launched a kayak
7 that I purchased on -- when we were driving from Austin
8 to Houston, and I paddled, and my wife took a motorboat
9 that some volunteers were helping people with motorboats,
10 and that’s how we came to the house.
11 MR. CHAREST: How long were you out of the
12 house, sir?
13 MR. SOARES: How long out of the house?
14 MR. CHAREST: Out of access.
15 MR. SOARES: We traveled out of town before
16 Harvey, and we came back into town August 31st. Without
17 using the house completely, it was uninhabitable for the
18 whole house until January 18, and then two areas remained
19 to be finalized -- the back yard, front yard, some areas
20 of the stairs. So we finalized everything in May 2018.
21 MR. CHAREST: Thank you. We’ll ask more
22 questions during the trial itself. Thank you.
23 MR. SOARES: Okay.
24 THE COURT: May I ask a question about the
25 appliances? Could you indicate the condition of the

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1 appliances when you were able to return to the house?

2 MR. SOARES: Yes, yeah. So when we started to
3 move the refrigerator and washer and dryer, they were
4 heavy and they -- we could feel that they were with water
5 inside. And so even moving them out was very difficult
6 because they were so heavy with water inside, lots of
7 water inside.
8 THE COURT: Were you able to salvage any
9 appliances?
10 MR. SOARES: No, sir, except -- well, the
11 microwave, but that’s high up, so it doesn’t -- it didn’t
12 get touched by the water.
13 THE COURT: Any other questions?
14 MS. TARDIFF: No.
16 MS. TARDIFF: Kris Tardiff.
17 No, sir. We’ll reserve our questions for
18 trial. Thank you.
19 THE COURT: All right. Thank you very much.
20 MR. SOARES: You’re welcome.
21 THE REPORTER: Ma’am, would you state and spell
22 your name for the record?
23 MS. SOARES: Ana, Ana Soares.
24 THE REPORTER: A N N A?
25 MS. SOARES: A N A, S O A R E S.

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2 We’re going off the record at 6:36.
3 (Off record.)
4 (The last site visit concluded at 6:36 p.m.)
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1 CERTIFICATE OF TRANSCRIBER
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3 I, Sara J. Vance, court-approved transcriber,
4 certify that the foregoing is a correct transcript from
5 the official electronic sound recording of the
6 proceedings in the above-titled matter.
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10 DATE: 5/10/2019 s/Sara J. Vance
11 SARA J. VANCE, CERT
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2019-05-08 Harvey - Trial Testimony Day 3 (Site Visit) - FULL

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1 IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS

1 SITE VISIT INDEX

For The Record, Inc.

1 SITE: BARKER OUTLET STRUCTURE

For The Record, Inc.

1 THE COURT: May I do that?

For The Record, Inc.

For The Record, Inc.

1 watershed last night with the storms that have occurred.

For The Record, Inc.

1 I’ve got a camera that I can -- that’s available to the

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1 water at the bottom of it so you can measure that water

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1 CAPTAIN CILISKE: Langham, L-A-N-G-H-A-M.

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1 MR. SHAPIRO: And then, finally, there are some

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1 MR. LEVINE: Thank you, Your Honor. Brad

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1 roughly about a six-inch gap between the top of that

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1 MR. CHAREST: Daniel Charest. At the time of

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1 THE COURT: Overruled. You had testified

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1 during Hurricane Harvey actually operating the gates and

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1 SITE: ONGOING CONSTRUCTION PROJECT FOR REPLACEMENT OF

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1 long-term fix is this behind me here. The existing

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1 relative height of the cofferdam to the Barker Dam, if

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1 recollection, Your Honor.

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1 SITE: AUXILIARY SPILLWAY ON THE NORTHWEST SIDE OF

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1 when I say -- and the elevation you’re standing at right

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1 would the water have gone? It obviously would flow down

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1 SITE: NORTHEAST END OF ADDICKS DAM

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1 the pool. Roughly, the ground level there is 108 feet,

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1 Clay Road there, called Turkey Creek. Some of that did

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1 CAPTAIN CILISKE: So Lakes on Eldridge has a

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1 CAPTAIN CILISKE: That’s -- that’s correct,

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1 roller-compacted concrete where we’re standing now at

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1 THE COURT: Overruled. I think you were

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1 THE REPORTER: I’m sorry, state that again.

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1 water that was held in -- during Hurricane Harvey?

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1 MR. IRVINE: But it would be a significant