Over 40 farmers, business owners sue Calif. over dam crisis

摘要

More than 40 business owners and farmers in California sued the state yesterday for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages over the Oroville Dam crisis. The lawsuit was filed against the California Department of Water Resources by the firms that are also representing the city of Oroville in a suit filed in early January. The Department of Water Resources harbored a "culture of corruption and harassment" that weakened dam safety and caused the crisis last February, the lawsuit alleges. Among other examples, the suit cites grocery bag maker Roplast Industries, which lost $1.5 million in production profits during the evacuation, according to the lawsuit. A walnut orchard took $15 million in damage after water surges from the dam caused flooding.