Hugo Black

“ The far reaching benefits which respondent's land enjoys from the Government's entire program precludes a holding that her property has been taken because of the bare possibility that some future major flood might cause more water to run over her land at a greater velocity than the 1927 flood which submerged it to a depth of fifteen or twenty feet and swept it clear of buildings. ”

“ Enforcement of a broad flood control program does not involve a taking merely because it will result in an increase in the volume or velocity of otherwise inevitably destructive floods, where the program measured in its entirety greatly reduces the general flood hazards, and actually is highly beneficial to a particular tract of land. ”

“ Lands, such as respondent's, located immediately behind levees along the main stem of the Mississippi, are liable to be inundated and destroyed by the breaking of river front levees and from natural crevassing, regardless of the height and strength of the levee. Loss in market value of respondent's property, since 1927, has not been caused by any action of the Government, but is due to the flood of 1927, the depression and other causes unconnected with the governmental program under the 1928 Act. ”

“ To enjoy the promise of its fertile soil in safety has, for generations, been the ambition of the valley's occupants. As early as 1717, small levees were erected in the vicinity of New Orleans. Until 1883, piecemeal flood protection for separate areas was attempted through uncoordinated efforts of individuals, communities, counties, districts and States. Experience demonstrated that these disconnected levees were utterly incapable of safeguarding an ever increasing people drawn to the fertile valley. ”

“ Here, it is clear that those charged with execution of the program of the 1928 Act abandoned the proposed Boeuf floodway and substituted another. Whatever the original general purpose of Congress as to that floodway and its fuse plug at Cypress Creek, congressional hearings, reports and legislation have approved their abandonment. Thus, respondent's contention at most is that the Government should pay for land which might have been in a floodway if that floodway had not been abandoned. We think this contention without merit. ”

“ While this Court has found a taking when the Government directly subjected land to permanent intermittent floods to an owner's damage, [12] it has never held that the Government takes an owner's land by a flood program that does little injury in comparison with far greater benefits conferred. [13] And here, the District Court justifiably found that the program of the 1928 Act has greatly reduced the flood menace to respondent's land by improving her protection from floods. Under these circumstances, respondent's land has not been taken within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment. ”