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Rain rain go away

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Rain rain go away

Postby Robert » 25 Jul 2021, 16:08

Just had a first. It just rained so heavy and for long enough to overwhelm the local drains. We were watching water rise to just below door threshold at the back of the house and step level at the front.

For normal heavy rain we never have a problem and we are well above any flood risk. This time water was coming up from the drains and adding to water levels. Saw some flowing in through an air brick at the front but only just over the bottom edge so not too much got in. Soon as the rain rate eased levels dropped. lived here over 30 years and never seen the like before. Bit of a near miss in the end with no harm done. Makes you realise how helpless you are in the face of extreme weather.

edit. just heard we were lucky - other streets near us but lower had fountains for drains.
Last edited by Robert on 25 Jul 2021, 16:13, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Rain rain go away

Postby Andyp » 25 Jul 2021, 16:25

Glad you got away with it Robert,

Perhaps the best thing you can do is have a “what to save first plan” in case it happens again.
I do not think therefore I do not am.

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Re: Rain rain go away

Postby Robert » 25 Jul 2021, 16:33

Looking at the local levels a huge area would have to be roof deep before we had more than a few inches on the ground floor so this was pretty exceptional and caused by the councils drains backing up in a way they never had before. Couple more inches at the front and the water would have been running down the road away from us.... but also too close for comfort to ground floor level and over air bricks.
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Re: Rain rain go away

Postby AJB Temple » 25 Jul 2021, 16:35

Fully agree about the plan. We are seeing far more than occasional heavy rain and not enough dry spells between for the ground to absorb it.

This is exactly why I collected my big generator today as heavy rain plus a power cut spells high risk. Have already dug sumps to house pumps, and have high capacity pumps to hand as well. We can pump directly to a ditch we own, or a stream or to a number of Leylandii that usually have very dry ground.

Only one part of the house has low floor levels, and that floor is concrete (presently carpeted but will be flagstones when I get to the refurb).
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Re: Rain rain go away

Postby Woodster » 25 Jul 2021, 17:14

We had heavy rain for long enough to overwhelm the drains when we lived in Surrey about ten years ago. The house was ok but I had to sweep water out that got into the garage that I used as a workshop.
Given the number of temperature records that have been broken in various parts of the world this year I expect this sort of thing may become more common?
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Re: Rain rain go away

Postby Robert » 25 Jul 2021, 18:07

Still no major ingress but I've been out in the rain again with a big broom doing battle.

North circular road closed in a few places due to flooding so it was much worse for others.

Latest problem here is still drains backing up but this time compounded by a river running out of our neighbours garage. neighbour is in hospital and house empty. River ran down the drive and added to depth at the doorstep. I ended up brooming that water into the foul water drain which was not flooded.

Like I said never happened before but I've just ordered a cheap 900W pump and 10m of hose in case it ever does. Front and rear rainwater drains are connected so chucking a pump in the front one and running hose to the road would help both. Hopefully it will never get used.

Water was coming out of neighbours garage door 100mm up so will have to contact relatives to go look for damage.
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Re: Rain rain go away

Postby Lurker » 25 Jul 2021, 19:18

Our garden could benefit from a good downpour, but it's still dry up here.

We can all help "the council drains" by fitting diverters to the gutter down pipes.
I have three 200litre water butts (all currently empty) that overflow into the garden.
Plus a diverter that I fix a hose pipe to and run into the middle of the lawn when rain is forecast.
Diverters are less that a tenner

IMHO most urban flooding that you describe is caused by new houses connected to drainage that is far beyond its original design capacity. And of course all of these houses are sited on what was once a giant soak away but now a impermeable layer .

This morning, I have walked past a new unfinished housing estate situated in a field that floods every winter, I'd be rather interested to understand how the civils were designed that are going to drain the area in future, plus where all that water is going to go.
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Re: Rain rain go away

Postby RogerM » 25 Jul 2021, 19:53

Building plot.jpg
(108.54 KiB)


This is an actual photo taken during the floods a couple of years ago. I wonder who's now the lucky owner of a house built there? :(
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Re: Rain rain go away

Postby System57 » 25 Jul 2021, 21:58

AJB Temple wrote:Fully agree about the plan. We are seeing far more than occasional heavy rain and not enough dry spells between for the ground to absorb it.

This is exactly why I collected my big generator today as heavy rain plus a power cut spells high risk. Have already dug sumps to house pumps, and have high capacity pumps to hand as well. We can pump directly to a ditch we own, or a stream or to a number of Leylandii that usually have very dry ground.

Only one part of the house has low floor levels, and that floor is concrete (presently carpeted but will be flagstones when I get to the refurb).


Sounds as though I’m in a similar risk situation to you Adrian- only moved here earlier this month. . Had a flash flood a few weeks ago exacerbated by partially blocked street drains(fortunately a few days before we moved our furniture into the house as it breached a couple of thresholds). Currently contemplating what measures to take to limit the future flood risk. For peace of mind sumps and pumps seem the way to go to supplement existing land drains/ditch so would be grateful for any pointers or advice in that regard.
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Re: Rain rain go away

Postby AJB Temple » 26 Jul 2021, 00:19

Hi Kelvin

We live on a rural road about 50m from the road. No mains drainage. The house has never flooded, but we are on the outer edge of an area that has.

Local authority / government has stupidly allowed building of large number of houses in the nearby village with insufficient plans to deal with rainwater. As a result they got flooding down the edge of the high street last winter.

We have various flood risk defences built by a previous (Dutch) owner, partly because we have a stream running to the Medway, very nearby. These mostly direct water to the roadway via our own ditches first.

We also have a newish soakaway that is about 40 cubic metres and another smaller one that is about 6 cubic metres.

I reshaped the driveway and parking area to direct water to a large Leylandii hedge rather than towards the house.

We have barrels on most downpipes, plus a 2000 gallon tank and two big troughs, and we will start the winter with all of these empty. (we use them for summer watering - not needed this year so far).

We have sumps with pumps that take water away from the house. Hence my main concern is flash floods overwhelming these, and/or a power cut that will stop the pumps working. Hence the generator.

I will also be dealing with door thresholds before winter and I have an antisiphon system for both downstairs loos.
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Re: Rain rain go away

Postby Phil Pascoe » 26 Jul 2021, 08:59

AJB Temple wrote:Fully agree about the plan. We are seeing far more than occasional heavy rain and not enough dry spells between for the ground to absorb it.


Prolonged dry spells can have the effect of making ground pretty much impermeable as well.
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Re: Rain rain go away

Postby flying haggis » 26 Jul 2021, 15:28

with dry ground and flash floods the ground cant take in the water quick enough to cope
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