El Niño Versus Your Area Drains

If the weatherman is correct, we are about to have a very much-needed rainy winter ahead of us. It is still of course not 100% certain that it will be as wet as the seasons of 1983 or 1998, but any rain is better than no rain considering the drought California is currently facing. With the possible storms headed our way, we are getting a lot of calls about clearing out area drains; the drains that keep your back and side yards from flooding.

Clearing these drains out is trickier than most people realize as you can never 100% know what you are going to run into. Many times these drains are backed up from grass or leaves but depending on the amount of vegetation you have in your yard, they may also be full of roots that have broken through the wall of the pipes. Because of the varying level of damage and infiltration possible, and the amount of work being unknown, this is one of the few items we are not able to set a flat price. We charge an hourly rate and it can sometimes be accomplished in just a couple of hours or sometimes we may need a good part of the day.

With that in mind, it is best to schedule these appointments in advance because we are unable to perform this work while it is raining and then we have to let everything dry out after a rain storm. So make sure that you do not wait until El Niño has already started because it can be quite difficult to get it into the schedule.

If you have any other questions about getting ready for the winter rain, please feel free to give our office a call and we are happy to answer any questions you have!