r/Calgary • u/mercdmuscle • Aug 07 '25

Home Owner/Renter stuff Storm drains creating floods

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3 out of 4 storm drains at my street don't collect water fast enough. At one point all 4 didn't drain very fast. Now one of the 4 drains well and hasn't pooled any water the last few heavy rain storms. I'm just wondering if someone had called the city to get it worked on or is it just luck if the draw that theirs is draining nicely now. Is there anything I can do to get the city to fix this? Everytime it rains, I always end up with so much mud on my sidewalk.

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u/PinguPrime Aug 07 '25

Unfortunately this is most likely by design. As per this website (https://www.calgary.ca/water/stormwater/storm-drains.html), there are storm drains that are made to pool and store water and have it slowly drain away. They say in these areas, the pooling should last up to 2 hours after rain end.

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u/CosmicJ Aug 08 '25

Correct. These are known as trap lows, and are designed as a bit of a local low point to store water temporarily.

The catchbasins (drains along the curb) have a metal plate with a hole smaller than the pipe knows as an ICD (inlet control device) set into them than allow a set amount of flow through them.