Monsoon Rain Emergency
Monsoon Rain season is here in New Mexico. This afternoon we had one heck of a cell come through our area creating flash flooding warning that we well justified. Even though we had made some improvement to to the backyard, this weather was a good reminder we still have a lot to work on. I’m just thankful for having quick access to the tools I needed, attention to what was going on, and quickly took action on this Monsoon Rain Emergency.
The Start of the Rain
Rain was coming. I actually got caught in the wind – the leading edge of the storm on the freeway. I was doing the speed limit of 75mph where the head-on wind slowed me down to 58 mph! That’s one heck of a leading edge of a storm!
When I arrived to Lucky Home Today, the rain was coming down hard and sideways. Our cell phones were lite up with multiple alerts saying flash flooding warning from various apps. Here is a pic of Mr.G a half a mile (1km) away. The sidewalk is pretty much gone.
I was monitoring the backyard and catching up on some Pinterest postings when this caught my eye. Yes – that’s not good at all!
Soon after we had moved in last year, we found out where the drainage point is in the backyard. It was clogged again, and we’ve changed the grading of the back yard trying to clear gravel.
Grabbing Mr. G’s waterproof boots and my rain coat, I went out to assess the situation. The water was covering the grass, pooling by the raised planter box and growing by the moment. First course of action, get the drainage brick hole opened. It began, to drain, but not at the rate I needed it to be. So I began to muck out water to the trees and surrounding area using, of all things, a snow shovel (made sense at the time).
I then pushed water off the patio with a wide push broom but it’s still pooled. So I began working on creating a trench to allow water to drain more rapidly.
Shoveling a few times I would stop and watch the outflow, making sure there wasn’t backflow going on. As the water flow slowed, then I would scoop and try to form a better drainage trough.
I was a sweaty mess but got a good workout in, but there is satisfaction and pride knowing the house was saved.
After the storm, the water was still draining near the planter.
While this may be common sense, during the time of the emergency, I was trying to focus on the problem. I the coming weeks, I’ll be putting down chicken wire to ensure the backyard will clear while preventing out pets from escaping. Plus we’ll need to regrade the backyard, as we get ready to put grass in, to ensure it drains.
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