Flooded again!

[Mr Spock]

This is my observing patio (one of two) and shed where the 12" is kept. Just 18mm of rain this morning and it's overwhelmed. The garden is flooded too so I don't know what the solution is 

 

[maw lod qan]

I'm guessing that you've been getting a lot of rain and the ground us saturated. 

Our soil, is sand. Yours must be heavier with clay too. 

But believe me, I feel your pain.

[Mr Spock]

Previous two weeks 162mm - that's two month's worth  Underneath the topsoil is solid clay...

[Louis D]

By the looks of it, you have a mostly level area with poor or even blocked drainage.  You'll need to figure out where that water would normally drain to.  Then, you might need to investigate putting in a French drain to channel the water to that natural drain.  My niece had to do that with her backyard because it was a basin with nowhere for the water to go.  Putting in the drain involved digging a 70 foot long trench from the center of the backyard, along the side of her house, to the street, for the drainage pipe.

[badhex]

Yikes. Sorry to hear that. My home town of Chesterfield which is obviously quite near you has been hit quite badly in places too, and there are certain areas where it basically happens every time there is a storm. These two pictures from family and friends:

[Franklin]

37 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

This is my observing patio (one of two) and shed where the 12" is kept. Just 18mm of rain this morning and it's overwhelmed. The garden is flooded too so I don't know what the solution is 

That's bad Michael! I've been to your house and if that gets any deeper it may get above the damp course. I'd put my wellies on and get the dob inside. You could hire/buy a small submersible pump, connect it to a hose and get the water away but being a middle terrace that may entail running the hose through the house. I'd put the hose straight down the WC.

[Franklin]

5 minutes ago, badhex said:

My home town of Chesterfield

Ravenside retail park totally flooded last week and a poor woman died. I'm glad I live up the hill from Chesterfield.

[John]

That looks awful Michael 😔

 

[bosun21]

Looks pretty bad Michael, and winter hasn’t even arrived yet. I hope you can find a cost effective solution.

[Mr Spock]

It's dropped 2cm since I posted this. However, it has started raining again...

It does open up some photo opportunities though. D500 & Sigma 150mm, 1/500th @ f10, ISO 8000. Shutter on continuous high (10fps)

[Franklin]

24 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

It does open up some photo opportunities though

When it's still you could point the binoculars at it and use it as a huge mirror. Save straining your neck!😁

Seriously though, for the future, digging a french drain is a big undertaking but if your rear gutters have a downpipe that enters a rainwater gulley in your garden you could set up a waterbutt in situ on the downpipe. Having that in place would allow you to operate a small pond pump and get rid of any future unwanted flood water.

[Mr Spock]

The gutter downpipe is next door to the right. Next door to the left is lower than me, but they have a drain. I wish I had the nerve to dig the garden out to let it drain next door 

I had tried to dig a sump, but that's flooded too. Maybe I need a bigger hole...

[knobby]

Our garden floods (clay soil) get something like this https://www.diy.com/departments/einhell-dirty-water-pump-370w-power-9000-l-h-submersible-pump-drain-floods-empty-hot-tubs-and-pools-gc-dp-3730/4006825587203_BQ.prd a decent length of hose and leave it in the hoe you've dug.

[Franklin]

51 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

The gutter downpipe is next door to the right. Next door to the left is lower than me, but they have a drain. I wish I had the nerve to dig the garden out to let it drain next door 

You need to get to the lower drain to the left if the neighbors will let you. An ACO drain channel right along the length of the back of your house linking up with that drain and all the flood problems are solved.

[F15Rules]

4 minutes ago, knobby said:

Our garden floods (clay soil) get something like this https://www.diy.com/departments/einhell-dirty-water-pump-370w-power-9000-l-h-submersible-pump-drain-floods-empty-hot-tubs-and-pools-gc-dp-3730/4006825587203_BQ.prd a decent length of hose and leave it in the hoe you've dug.

I have a similar pump which I use to empty my (c 1500 gallon capacity) pond once a year. This pond takes over 3 hours for the garden hose to fill on full flow from the mains, but only c 30.minutes to empty with the pump..but you do need somewhere for the pump to drain the water to of course.

The French drain is not difficult to make (I put one in adjacent to an outbuilding wall which was very wet) and they work well..but again they need to be dug long enough, with a natural slight incline in the ground away from the area you want to drain.

Hope you find a solution that works for you Michael.. (oh, and of course a dry warm spell is the time to dig a French drain of course)..

Dave

[Peter Drew]

With a flat looking surrounding, any lowering just gives extra capacity.  Any prospect of raising critical areas?

[paulastro]

5 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

This is my observing patio (one of two) and shed where the 12" is kept. Just 18mm of rain this morning and it's overwhelmed. The garden is flooded too so I don't know what the solution is 

 

Gosh, that's terrible. 

I'm afraidI don't know anything about drainage, I live at over 800 feet on a hill and if it rains heavily the water  flows quickly down the road like a river. We are quite elevated from the road as well which helps.

I do feel for you and I hope the water subsides quickly and you are able to come up with a solution for apermanent fix.  The very best of luck to you.

[DaveL59]

5 hours ago, badhex said:

Yikes. Sorry to hear that. My home town of Chesterfield which is obviously quite near you has been hit quite badly in places too, and there are certain areas where it basically happens every time there is a storm. These two pictures from family and friends:

 

Yikes, not the best way to hold the car in the air to work under it... 😉

For sure it's been a rough few months with the weather and like others I'm grateful to be near the top of a hill and above the road level. Downside of course when it gets icy and you're trying to reverse up the drive tho that hasn't caused me any issues where neighbours have struggled to just get over the dropped kerbs.

[Captain Scarlet]

5 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

 

Judging by the difference between in and out I’d say you have some severe Spherical Aberration there 😁

Seriously though I feel for you re the flooding 

M

Edited November 2, 2023 by Captain Scarlet

[Mr Spock]

As soon as it's dry outside, I'm going to dig a large hole. The flooding seems to be related to rain rate rather than the total amount - in this case 9mm per hour. The water does drain away but quite slowly. If I can provide a place for the deluge to go temporarily it should stop the flooding.

I can't access next door's drain as there's a wall in between properties. As next door is much lower than here the rainwater must be going there somehow as there's nowhere else it could go.

It doesn't help that there's a number of springs in this area which have been built over.

[saac]

37 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

As soon as it's dry outside, I'm going to dig a large hole. The flooding seems to be related to rain rate rather than the total amount - in this case 9mm per hour. The water does drain away but quite slowly. If I can provide a place for the deluge to go temporarily it should stop the flooding.

I can't access next door's drain as there's a wall in between properties. As next door is much lower than here the rainwater must be going there somehow as there's nowhere else it could go.

It doesn't help that there's a number of springs in this area which have been built over.

What you need is a soak-away MIchael.  Ideally these would drain to a functioning drain but they do not need to.  Basically dig a hole and fill with gravel - you want fairly chunky grade.  Builders of new houses would often use the rubble from the build.  If you can cover the top of the rubble pile with some geotextile (at a push an anti  weed fabric would suffice) this stops soil slowly silting up the rubble, then re turf/surface. You are effectively creating void into which the water will drain - it will then slowly seep away over time but it should alleviate the surface flooding.   If you want a more modern solution you could use these prefabricated crate systems. 

https://www.drainagepipe.co.uk/soakaways-membranes-c-18/?keyword=soak away crate&matchtype=p&device=c&campaign=S_|_PRO_|_Soakaway_Crate_(p)&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwkY2qBhBDEiwAoQXK5fgMYPpJNDcDy7Uis8AgXOen9tEJK3WeF73snoCFbKKQnKhDmsPD1hoCQccQAvD_BwE

Jim 

Edited November 2, 2023 by saac

[maw lod qan]

I wish I could give you some hope.

Where I live most are just befuddled by how much rain is on an acre with just an inch of rain. 

If you are in a area that is troubled,  there isn't much you do but let nature take it's course.

[pipnina]

I live in one of the few places in England with hills (Plymouth) and have been spared outright flooding but my heart goes out to all who have had property damaged and lives disrupted.

I wish you and your villages and towns a quick recovery from this island's miserable weather

Maybe once the storm is fully past us we'll be rewarded with some crystal-like skies (now that's wishful thinking!)

[Seelive]

2 hours ago, pipnina said:

I live in one of the few places in England with hills (Plymouth)...

Really? There seems to be many places with hills in my part of the UK.

[900SL]

12 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

As soon as it's dry outside, I'm going to dig a large hole. The flooding seems to be related to rain rate rather than the total amount - in this case 9mm per hour. The water does drain away but quite slowly. If I can provide a place for the deluge to go temporarily it should stop the flooding.

I can't access next door's drain as there's a wall in between properties. As next door is much lower than here the rainwater must be going there somehow as there's nowhere else it could go.

It doesn't help that there's a number of springs in this area which have been built over.

What is the approximate area of the catchment (the area which drains to the flooded part)