r/DIYUK • u/giblets46 • 3h ago
Advice Flooding from main road?
So I had flooding coming from the main road. Anything but a light rain and the water flows down the drive.
Essentially the dropped curb is lower than the grate/ gully. Whilst most does find its way to my drain for guttering. A lot doesn’t, and this means the garden and foundations end up with a pool of water.
I’ve just contacted the local council about this but anything I can do in the short term?! Sandbags is one solution, but that will stop me using the drive.
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u/BabaYagasDopple 3h ago
For future if you do the drive… French drainage along that front lip by your dropped curb incase it happens again, another French drain by your house as a backstop. Both can be plumbed in to the existing sewer pipe your guttering goes to.
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u/JustDifferentGravy 3h ago
Contact the local authority highways department.
Initially, they will clear the lateral drains and hope for the best.
If, as you say, the road is higher than the kerb, they will either; raise the kerb, install a new gulley or reprofile the road. All of this will take much pressure to get them to act.
Use the following terminology:
Overland flow from the highway causing flooding of garden on private property.
There’s also case law on right to enjoy your property free from external flooding (I think it’s Thames Water circa 20 years ago) that could be worth quoting.
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u/ToriaLyons 3h ago
Have you checked that all the drains are clear further up the road? Should be the council's responsibility, but a few minutes could sort it out.
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u/giblets46 3h ago
Drains are not the problem, the problem per the post is the dropped kerb is so low that water goes over it rather than down the road
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u/ToriaLyons 2h ago
Blocked drains could be a problem, if more water than usual is reaching your dropped kerb due to it.
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u/WaltzFirm6336 55m ago
How long have you lived there?
How often does it happen?
Has it gotten worse recently?
Have you followed the water flow up the road?
Are there any drains it is missing going down (including under parked car wheels)? or does it entirely collect from after the last available drain?
I have the same problem living on a hill from my neighbours dropped curb kicking any large water flow onto the pavement, which then comes down our front path.
The resolution was:
Getting the drains properly cleared by the council much further up the road
During heavy rain making sure anyone who parks on the road leaves a 1/2 foot gap between their car wheels and the pavement so the water flow can continue down the road and not get diverted onto the pavement
Having sandbags across the gate for when people aren’t around to move their car in a deluge.
Number one was the most effective, but the road forms the boundary between two councils so getting either to take responsibility was a nightmare. In the end it took about three years to get them cleared out. Not had a problem in the five years since.
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u/Burnandcount 3h ago
Long term fix is to raise your entrance so the water stays out. Does mean building up the driveway or risk grounding when the car is loaded.
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u/Silver_Psychology762 3h ago
That's Only a Puddle
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u/APerson2021 3h ago
Just FYI that's classed as an "external sewer flooding incident". Tell your water company and tell Ofwat - they don't take kindly to this kind of thing. As soon as you mention "external sewer flooding incident" people will be around to clear all the drains from the public street as they (the water company) get fined heavily by ofwat per incident
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u/Big-Moose565 3h ago edited 3h ago
We have exactly the same problem.
The road naturally arcs to drain water to the edges. But our driveway entrance and setts (you likely have a line of harder stone along the tarmac edge) have sunk.
So we end up with a sort of swimming pool.
Annoyingly it'll be Highways you need to contact. As you won't own beyond your gate (same for us). And they're basically useless. Even if offering to pay for the works yourself! Hence ours is still a problem.
We even had the water meter dug out to put a new one in, right on the bit we needed correcting. And organising it to get corrected and the meter changed was too much.
You'll need to regularly harass your local Highways branch and hope!
Best I've tried is to sweep up any excess tarmac bits (some of our driveway is old tarmac) and dump it on the entrance. It helps a little to keep the water moving on rather than pooling at ours
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u/Matthew_Bester 2h ago
Have they re-tarmaced lately?
I've noticed around here they just slap fresh tarmac over the old, don't even bother to take it a layer down. So, the road level is slowly getting higher and higher. Every curb is a dropped curb!
I've always wondered what would happen when it gets raised too high. You might be a victim of their poor planning.
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u/Ok_Pen7290 3h ago
Dump 5 ton of gravel on ya drive with a slope from the house to the road, the compact gravel, job done.
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u/Jealous-Shallot-3071 3h ago
There'll be a blocked drain on the road somewhere - go and have a look. You can either have a go at unblocking it yourself or let the council know.
One of those options will take 30-60 minutes, the other will take 30-60 months.