Our French Drainage System was placed directly
over bedrock, (the best possible circumstance for a French Drainage
System). It
was placed over bedrock and would veer onto a southern
backside of the barn to obtain a proper drop for the drainage to travel
downhill. Its outlet placed at the bottom of the hillside into a
drainage ditch at the rear of our New Large Building.
The barn and the road exists over bedrock whereas the barn was built
over 40 years ago whereas the road existed long before that. The bedrock depth back into the hillside is
estimated to be at
least 24 feet.
A December 9, 2007 Event
On December 9, 2007, the French drainage system discharged flow from the
upslope area after minimal rainfall occured. This was the first observed
discharge since the drainage flow disruption that occurred following the
commencement of corrective work on August 6, 2007. (An example of this
drainage flow can be observed at approximately the 2:45 mark in the
video below).
How?
Our West
Virginia consulting engineer could not understand how drainage from the
uphill developer could have reached its outlet at the bottom of our
valley so fast, particularly given it was down over seven feet during a
dry spell.
Above To The Development
I chose to
investigate the area above. I discovered that the parking lot drainage
inlet, which had two newly installed drainage lines tied into it, had
been covered over with a sheet of plywood. I immediately informed the
contractors of the consequences of covering the parking lot drain. They
stated they would remove the fill and plywood at once; however, by that
time the damage had already occurred. With the Platinum parking lot
drainage blocked, the water had nowhere to go except over the embankment
toward Pizza Hut and McDonald’s.
(It is important
to note that had any of the retaining wall estimates I previously
provided to Platinum’s managing attorneys been implemented, none of this
would have occurred).
Nevertheless,
approximately one year later, during a multi-party meeting at
McDonald’s, a young DOH supervisor and a Thrasher engineer attempted to
place full responsibility on my elderly father, Frank Lacaria. It failed
as for my father’s and my own detailed recollection of events.
McDonald’s out-of-state attorneys took note of our account and accepted
it as credible. From that point forward, my father’s name was never
mentioned again.
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