Moab • Members of a family have filed a lawsuit against the City of Moab, alleging that pedestrian bridges the city constructed over Mill Creek contributed to severe flooding of their property following storms in 2022 and 2024.
The two households seek more than $1.3 million in damages combined.
Dee Taylor, Tammy Taylor, Mike Taylor and Heather Taylor live in two homes in the 200 block of West Center, where Mill Creek runs nearby.
Represented by attorneys with the Salt Lake City-based firm Dentons Durham Jones Pinegar P.C., the Taylors allege the bridge at 150 West “was improperly placed and constructed,” according to court documents. “Engineering documents required that the bridge be installed straight (perpendicular to the creek) and arched. Instead, the bridge is flat and installed diagonally across the creek in contravention of the engineering specifications.”
The lawsuit alleges the pedestrian bridge at 300 West also contributed to the obstruction of Mill Creek and the resulting flooding.
The Taylors argue the “improper placement and construction of the bridges” allowed sediment and debris to accumulate and completely plugged the bridges, causing Mill Creek to flow out of its channel and onto their West Center properties.
The plaintiffs claim such flooding “overwhelmed the Dee and Tammy property, filling a flood retention basin with six to eight feet of water and sediment,” on Aug. 11, 2022. “The retention basin had been dry for the preceding 48 years,” according to court documents, leading to about $10,000 in damages.
Both properties “sustained severe flooding” on Aug. 20, 2022. They claim sediment “had reduced the clearance under the 150 West Bridge to less than four feet.” The bridge, they claim, “became completely plugged with debris, redirecting Mill Creek’s flow onto Plaintiff’s properties,” according to the complaint.
That flood allegedly caused about $136,000 in damage to the Dee and Tammy property and roughly $198,000 to the Mike and Heather property.
Another flood on Oct. 1, 2022, did more than $5,000 in damage to both properties, the lawsuit claims.
The plaintiffs claim two floods that occurred on June 21 and 27, 2024, caused more than half a million dollars in damage to the properties, with one allegedly sustaining nearly $346,000 and the other about $242,000. They claim to have spent a combined $5,000 to build berms following the second flood. On Aug. 23 of 2024, according to court documents, both properties sustained over $190,000 in damages.
The attorneys claim the floods were not 100-year flood events, “yet they eclipsed the 100-year floodplain — demonstrating that the Bridges and their associated obstructions, rather than extraordinary natural forces, caused the flooding of plaintiff’s properties.”
The city removed some bridges in 2024, but the lawsuit claims the abutments remain and they continue to obstruct Mill Creek’s natural flow. “Multiple experts have confirmed that the Bridges and their abutments caused or contributed to the flooding of Plaintiffs’ properties,” reads the lawsuit.
The lawsuit further alleges the city has “failed to take adequate corrective action” and has “actively prevented the implementation of viable solutions, including rejecting assistance from the State of Utah.”
They say the city’s “acts and omissions” have caused Dee and Tammy Taylor to incur nearly $700,000 in damages and Mike and Heather Taylor suffered nearly $650,000 in damages.
The City of Moab declined to comment on the lawsuit, per city policy. Gregory Hoole, the city’s attorney on this matter, also declined to comment. R. Blake Hamilton, one of the attorneys representing the Taylors, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, saying he had to confer with his clients first.
This story was first published by The Times-Independent.