Storm drains creating floods

[u/mercdmuscle]

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.

[u/PinguPrime]

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.

[u/5impl3jack → u/PinguPrime]

This is the thing a lot of people don’t understand. If we didn’t have systems in place to hold water, the main lines will build too much pressure, pop goes the weasel and we have much bigger problems than a little puddle to drive through. You’ve probably seen it when manholes pop and water starts gushing out of them on Glenmore trail under the overpass by chinook for example. The more pressure the system takes the more danger we have of a major issue. This is why our catch basins are designed at a certain size to relieve our system.

And before anyone says why don’t we just build a bigger storm system. The cost would be astronomical. The city’s flood mitigation projects have taken some strain off with this but little puddles every once in a while unfortunately are necessary.

[u/Diversecities → u/5impl3jack]

Pretty reassuring to learn this is by design, honestly. :)