The appellants as plaintiffs filed their complaint against the defendant-appellee, alleging that the defendant had built a dam on the west end of Long Lake and two dams on the east end of Long Lake and raised the grade of a public road, constructed without facilities for passage of water, which caused the water level in Long Lake to rise to the extent that the water level within the area of the dams was from five to nine feet higher than the adjacent lands which constitute the natural drain area for Long Lake, thereby causing the plaintiffs lands, houses and businesses to be flooded and unusable, causing irreparable damage to the plaintiffs property. The complaint prayed for injunctive relief. The County answered admitting much of the substance of the complaint, but alleging in great detail the existence of a natural disaster in the area during the time in question and also alleged that during this time, the area was designated a disaster area by the Governor of the State of Florida, the Federal Civil Defense Authorities, and the Board of County Commissioners of Orange County. They contend that even without the damming of the Lake, the level of the waters of the Lake would have been higher than normal; that the damming only increased the degree of flooding; that in the course of the emergency, the County took these temporary measures to protect the health, convenience and welfare of the greatest number of its citizens; that it was proceeding as rapidly as possible to effect a permanent solution and to remove the temporary dams to which the plaintiffs objected; and that without such temporary measures, the homes of approximately seventy-five families valued in millions of dollars and the County roads within the area would have been damaged. The court then entered the following Final Decree:
