Country Side

Durning the heavy rains of this last year, I ended up with 5 1/2 feet of water in my basement.  The majortiy of the water came off from down the hill on 27th Street across my flat backyard and down the staris to my basement, outside entrance.  I called the city about what can be done and I was advised to divert the water to the neighbors yard.  isn't that illegal? I was also advised that the problem is that the storm drains and the sewers are connected and can't handle the overflow.  what are my options?  Has anyone else ever dealt with this and what kind of resolution can I expect? I don't look forward to dealing with this everytime it rains.  I have lived in this property for 10 years and this is a more recent problem. Any advice or solutions are greatly appreciated.

Hi,

Super advice from the city. I am sure your neighbors would be thrilled.

I have a related problem. We live on the corner of 26th and rollins and noticed the heavy rain runoff as well (we moved in in march). Turns out that there was a manhole back by the interstate hill that was malfunctioning. The lid had popped off and was allowing tons of water to channel up across our backyard and to the street. We have called the city on numerous occasions to get the thing fixed and it looks like they made an attempt yesterday. I am not sure if this is related to your problem as our backyard "river" flows down rollins and takes a right on 26th street. Hopefully in some miraculous way this will fix my problem and yours. (I cant really plant a veggie garden that gets flooded with sewer water) If not next spring maybe we should get a group together to ask the city to fix whatever plumbing problem that is causing the flooding.

Kate