[6] From 2008 to 2014, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District implemented $4.4 million in interim risk reduction measures (at Addicks and Barker dams) to address deficiencies until long-term solutions could be identified and executed.

Staff presented this information during a public meeting October 29 at Bear Creek Community Center in Houston to discuss these plans and gather feedback.

[citation needed] It is estimated the Addicks and Barker Reservoirs, along with other federal construction projects on Lower Buffalo Bayou and its tributaries, will prevent average annual flood damages of $16,372,000 to the city of Houston.

[citation needed] During and after Hurricane Harvey, 7,000 acres of private upstream land was deliberately submerged by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operation of the Addicks and Barker dams and reservoirs.

[7] In response, Upstream property owners filed a series of lawsuits in The U.S. Court of Federal Claims (CFC) seeking to hold the U.S. government liable for the induced flooding under the “takings clause” of the Fifth Amendment.

[9] To that end, and after considering hundreds of applications, the CFC appointed attorneys Armistead "Armi" Easterby, Daniel Charest, and Charles Irvine to serve as Co-Lead trial counsel for upstream plaintiffs.

[21] The Interim Report states that high reservoir water levels resulting from the Army Corp's operation of the Addicks and Barker dams "pose unacceptable risks to health and human safety, private property, and public infrastructure," and that "future economic damages from flooding are likely" in the upstream area.

[22] The Interim Report further indicates that there is inadequate government-owned real estate for dam operations, as more than 20,000 homes and 24,000 parcels of privately owned upstream land are within the areas subject to government-induced flooding.