Monsoon Rain Emergency

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.