How come my street fills up with water when there is heavy rain?

Street ponding of short duration is anticipated and designed to contribute to the overall drainage capability of the system. The goal of all drainage systems is the prevention of structure flooding during a 100-year storm event. Our streets are an important part of our flood control system. During normal rain events, the rainwater is drained via the storm drainage inlets seen at various locations along the curbs on our streets, through the storm sewer system and into the drainage ditches that surround the MUD.

During heavy rains, the streets will temporarily fill up with water, like a holding pond, whenever the rainfall event exceeds the drainage capacity of the storm sewer system. This “ponding” in the streets prevents the rainwater from reaching and entering your house. As soon as the rainfall rate decreases or stops, the storm waters will be drained via the storm drains and the ponding in the streets will subside.

For this reason, it is important that nothing but rainwater be put through/down the storm drains. Grass, yard debris, tree debris, and other garbage should be picked up or collected and disposed of in appropriate bags/receptacles for transport to the sanitary landfill. Allowing this debris to enter the storm drainage inlets could cause blockages in the storm drainage system that could potentially result in the rain water exceeding the “ponding” capacity of our streets and thus entering our homes.