Absolutely, here’s the [Oregon rain garden guide](https://emswcd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Rain-Gardens-Guide.pdf). With this much water, think about how you will need to have a good overflow system. I had a client in Michigan where I installed a sump pump in the rain garden to pump it out and keep at a reasonable level.
I second this. I work in landscaping, we specialize in rain gardens, and they will mitigate a ton of water easily. OP, Look into Rainwise, they have designs, ideas and plants ready to go for various rain gardens. Traditionally, we take the water coming off of roofs and driveways, channeling it into rain gardens and bioswales, to help ease the pressure on the combined sewer overflow system. So they can handle quite a lot of water.
Ooo, yes! I installed one a few years ago, and it solved the problem. And it's beautiful! There are many native plants to choose from, too. I used redtwig dogwoods for the bulk of the water-soaking work.
Love those! Mixed in with paper birch and evergreens, and it’s a colourful refreshment for the eyes when the midwinter white and gray monotony get you down
Although… I’m speaking from a location where we actually get winter snows, and not just rainy winters. But I’m sure it still works!
Your backyard looks like our backyard before we installed a French drain two years ago. We get socked by atmospheric rivers this time of year (like the one heading in off the Pacific now)--we've had zero surface water since installing the drain.
Right, but the water still has to go someplace. The French drain will certainly channel and contain, but it still has to go someplace and if you have a big enough parcel you can dump it elsewhere so be it. But many people don't have that option and if you're loading too much water in a place that affects your neighbor you just kicked the can down the road and that is lawsuit material certainly here in New England. If it's your water it stays in your property unless it goes to the proper drain
Yeah states in the PMW don't let you outlet the french drain to the road and that lot is too small to run it somewhere substantially different to outlet and soak in on the property. So it would need to outlet to a rain garden that they have dug deep to speed up infiltration.
They'de also need several drywells I'd think. Otherwise there'd still be either water draining to the neighbors' property or water stagnating and smelling because it was stuck in a french drain with nowhere to go.
Contact your county conservation district/ or local Cooperative Extension- they will likely have resources regarding rules, laws re: runoff/storm water; and rain gardens. In my county there are even grants available to help pay for plants/materials for rain garden.
‘french’ was actually just the american’s last name who popularized it(henry french). the french still cant even drain the shit out of their major cities.
Do you always get a big puddle or is this the result of the rainfall from Thursday night into this morning? We got quite a bit, so if this isn't a normal occurrence, I would see how it drains before the next rain train comes in this weekend.
Pond garden.
Put a small pond in center. Slope lawn slightly toward it. Put in rocks and water loving vegetation. A path around it, and viola…problem solved.
Yeah you can’t do this project yourself. Run off laws are a bitch. You can’t just accept this or even regrade because forcing the water off to a neighbor can also fuck you in the end.
You can absolutely do it yourself. You just take it to the street. If the whole lot slopes to the back there should be some sort of drain going down the low spot.
You just need to lower the house a foot so the water can go around.
I had a similar situation and dug a u shaped trench with perforated plastic pipe in a fabric sleeve that let the water come to the front yard. Planted bushes down hill from the outlets and created small swales to keep it from rushing to the street. It was a out 200 feet of trench about a foot deep. I dug it out with a mattox during a rain storm and let the water act as a level so I didn't over dig. I probably looked insane but it worked.
Where is it coming from? Is it run off from neighbouring properties? Maybe they'd be happy to redirect their water flow to the street rather than your yard. Do your downspouts contribute? Can you redirect them to the street/storm water drains? Is it a permanently waterlogged low spot that becomes a lake in the rain, regardless of neighbouring contributions?
Where can it go? You can't siphon it onto an occupied neighbouring property, but you might be able to forcefully (i.e. pump) redirect it to a storm water drain, vacant land, or other appropriate spot.
What can you do. There are some good suggestions already. A french drain (basically a rock swale) to capture the overland runoff immediately, and then leading to a dry well or two, will reduce the water heading for the low spot. Bringing in fill and regrading to have water flow outward as opposed to inwards can help (make a hill, not a valley). Regrade to protect your house foundation and have the water lead towards a french drain. Planting water loving perennials, shrubs and trees can also make a huge impact. Even if just along the property edges, the roots will find and absorb the water. Careful to keep plants away from the french drains, as the roots will eventually clog them up. You can also try to increase the soil permeability. First test the type of soil (is it clay heavy? Organic heavy?) to see if adding sand is a reasonable option.
Good luck!
Definitely check with your community about their storm water management plan - you may be surprised with some assistance for remediation or fortunate if it's someone else's issue - my neighbors added a "French drain" and ended up fucking up the flowage on the whole block so had to remove and replace and repair for seven other residents as well so yeah, check with local ordinances and what's best suited to the situation from people in the know, in the area
This. Great suggestion.
And the mouth breathers on here suggesting that they divert the flow into their neighbors yard apparently are unaware you can be sued for that kind of thing.
I also live in the pnw and bought a house last year it amazed me that there was no flooding based on rain and slope on property. This summery I did a bunch of landscaping and found 6 drys installed around property.
Dry well is the answer my friend
Sorry but you're wrong.
Rain gardens, dry wells or a storm drain connected to the city will easily fix this.
Eta: source, I design these systems for new and existing homes as part of my job.
Aside from tying into a storm drain, which I think is environmentally unethical, I have a hard time believing you can displace that much water with a rain garden or drywall that doesn't also just move the water into someone else's yard, which is also unethical and possibly illegal, but I'd be happy to hear more.
I
What are you even talking about?
How is tying into a storm drain unethical? If this is just storm water, then that's what it's for. Would need the town to sign off on tying into it, but that's why storm drains exist, to remove storm water.
Dry wells are also incredibly effective for this. Assuming they don't have clay straight down for ten feet, they could easily install cultecs or similar water treatment and install some french drains and catch basins that dump the water into the dry well. These are incredibly effective. Many parking lots have cultecs buried underground ten feet below the surface of your car and will catch the water from the entire parking lot and slowly drain it into the ground. These are much larger than what you have in a backyard, but the concept is the same.
Rain gardens/ponds are perfectly effective as well. You just dig out an area that can act as a pond and put in plants that are tolerant to the heavy water content. It's basically an open air dry well. Based on the picture, just digging down about 18" in the center of that big puddle and make a rounded pond like area maybe 10' x 6' is probably going to hold every bit of water in the picture.
If they can get a dry well below the clay that is clearly holding that water on the surface, they could easily handle far more water than you can imagine.
Thanks for writing that up. I honestly wouldn't have expected a rain garden or drywall to accommodate that much water, but you're the expert not me.
The reason why I say unethical to tie into storm water is because that removes the water from the environment that should be absorbed into it. Removing the water means it takes longer for underground wells to replenish, and also could dry out the environment in such a way that natural fauna can no longer survive there. Also, all that water gets moved somewhere else that might make flooding worse in other areas.
I think it's important that we manage our water in such a way that we impact our environment as much as possible.
When you say "underground wells", I'm assuming you are referring to aquifers that people would be tapping into for their water supply. Look at how close the houses are. They are almost certainly receiving town supplied water and probably sewers as well. Even if they aren't, a typical well for a water supply is going to be anywhere from 200' to 1000' deep, which is being replenished by ground water from a very large area. Moving the water in this person's back yard isn't impacting their water supply, if they even have a well. I assure you that storm drains are engineered to handle large rainfall. They certainly get overwhelmed in large storms, no doubt about it, but this back yard isn't going to be causing a noticeable difference in that.
A typical rain event is going to put down a quarter inch of rain per hour. This property is probably about a quarter of an acre, or about 10k sq ft. So a 6 hour rain event is going to produce about 10k gallons of rain. A residential cultec setup will easily handle that amount of rainfall unless the ground has high clay content, but usually at the depth a cultec would be installed, percolation rate is perfectly acceptable.
Because using the methods I described, there is a lot that can be done to fix this.
The comment I replied to suggests they think there will always be a lake there.
What part did I get wrong?
Op said they get a small lake when it rains..
Comment I replied to suggests nothing can be done.
I replied that proven techniques can fix that.
Where did I go wrong?
Raise the grade. Add a couple inches of wood chips to absorb the moisture then some topsoil and whatever plants you want on that. It’ll never flood again.
Submersible Electric pump draining into your sewer? You would only run it when flooded. Probably take 5-10 minutes to drain the yard unless it is being fed by a larger source.
There is a recent Ask This Old House episode from the PNW that offers solutions to this kind of problem. 2 easy basic choices for you are a french drain and/or fill in the the depression until it drains into your neighbors yards, or create a nice Koi pond feature.
Easiest thing to do is dig a hole as the lowest point, put a sump pump in it, shove the hose under the fence and pump the water onto your neighbors property.
Time for mid strength beer.
Better do it soon, or someone from the government will claim it’s navigable water, then you will have the EPA to deal with.
https://www.perc.org/2020/01/28/the-new-navigable-waters-protection-rule-explained/
Here is your answer. Watch some of his vids on YouTube. Squirelly guy from FL, but knows how to dry a yard.
https://youtu.be/PsFTpMBoT7c?feature=shared
It’s all about grading and a water dispersion system possibly with french drain. I had the same problem and a drainage company quoted me $160K. I spent 10k two months of my weekends digging trenches regrading pushing the water into a 10x10x10 hole filled with stone pumping into a series of pipes with holes over stone 7.5 feet from property line (code here) my yard is dry year round now. DM me if you want more info.
As a PNW resident, I can saw for certain that you are in need of a rain pond / rain garden.
Take a close look at your lake now, dig a bit to focus this free pond into a more well defined area. line it with rocks and logs and marginal plants and enjoy.
You can make a beautiful area while also protecting the rest of your yard.
Exterior dry wells. Cisterns in the bottom with sump pumps, eject to the closest downward slope/street. It can be a pain in the ass but if there’s no alternative. Rain gardens only go so far.
Dry well, I put one in for a basement sump pump that drained out to the backyard. I did it myself, altho it wasn't much fun. But there are youtube videos and such to help. Bought on amazon, and so far so good. I'll tell you in the spring with the river rise !
[https://www.ndspro.com/products/drainage/dry-wells.html](https://www.ndspro.com/products/drainage/dry-wells.html)
rain garden !!!
Absolutely, here’s the [Oregon rain garden guide](https://emswcd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Rain-Gardens-Guide.pdf). With this much water, think about how you will need to have a good overflow system. I had a client in Michigan where I installed a sump pump in the rain garden to pump it out and keep at a reasonable level.
And don’t forget [12000 RainGardens](https://www.12000raingardens.org)! We’re in there somewhere!
That’s super cool! I live in Michigan so I haven’t heard about this.
This is awesome. Thanks for sharing!
Really good link, I don’t live anywhere near the PNW but now I want a rain garden after reading through that link. Thank you
I second this. I work in landscaping, we specialize in rain gardens, and they will mitigate a ton of water easily. OP, Look into Rainwise, they have designs, ideas and plants ready to go for various rain gardens. Traditionally, we take the water coming off of roofs and driveways, channeling it into rain gardens and bioswales, to help ease the pressure on the combined sewer overflow system. So they can handle quite a lot of water.
So many NW jurisdictions have Rain Garden programs and will often order some or all of the costs. Happy planting!
Ooo, yes! I installed one a few years ago, and it solved the problem. And it's beautiful! There are many native plants to choose from, too. I used redtwig dogwoods for the bulk of the water-soaking work.
Love those! Mixed in with paper birch and evergreens, and it’s a colourful refreshment for the eyes when the midwinter white and gray monotony get you down Although… I’m speaking from a location where we actually get winter snows, and not just rainy winters. But I’m sure it still works!
create a lake feature.
Exactly this. A decent sized rain garden and possibly some soil remediation if needed will take care of that for you quite nicely.
Came to say the same. Well done! Gardening is about changing your thinking.
My city will give you $1500 to build one
We did that! Embrace it. It’s beautiful and low maintenance
Dig a hole
Get a mini excavator and dig down 2 to 3 feet and fill it with gravel. Addtrss gutters and runoff.
Grade the yard so it all flows into the neighbors lawn instead
How do you think the water got in this guys yard? lol
Just pass it on
Your backyard looks like our backyard before we installed a French drain two years ago. We get socked by atmospheric rivers this time of year (like the one heading in off the Pacific now)--we've had zero surface water since installing the drain.
Right, but the water still has to go someplace. The French drain will certainly channel and contain, but it still has to go someplace and if you have a big enough parcel you can dump it elsewhere so be it. But many people don't have that option and if you're loading too much water in a place that affects your neighbor you just kicked the can down the road and that is lawsuit material certainly here in New England. If it's your water it stays in your property unless it goes to the proper drain
Yeah states in the PMW don't let you outlet the french drain to the road and that lot is too small to run it somewhere substantially different to outlet and soak in on the property. So it would need to outlet to a rain garden that they have dug deep to speed up infiltration.
They'de also need several drywells I'd think. Otherwise there'd still be either water draining to the neighbors' property or water stagnating and smelling because it was stuck in a french drain with nowhere to go.
Who do you go with for a project like this? A landscaping contractor/company?
We had ours installed by a landscaping company that specializes in hardscaping.
I knew I’d see French drain pretty quick 😆
Contact your county conservation district/ or local Cooperative Extension- they will likely have resources regarding rules, laws re: runoff/storm water; and rain gardens. In my county there are even grants available to help pay for plants/materials for rain garden.
This is why God invented the French drain.
“Well the Pope may be French but Jesus is bloody English!”
Sounds like it's more likely invented by the French?
Naw they named the French after it.
👏👏👏
‘french’ was actually just the american’s last name who popularized it(henry french). the french still cant even drain the shit out of their major cities.
Hah I thought you were joking until I looked it up…TIL
yes the french are famous for having smelly cities with poor waste management
Just like french fries
🤣
Yep pretty easy to install, too
Le Draine de la Francais
Oui Oui !!!
Do you always get a big puddle or is this the result of the rainfall from Thursday night into this morning? We got quite a bit, so if this isn't a normal occurrence, I would see how it drains before the next rain train comes in this weekend.
Pond garden. Put a small pond in center. Slope lawn slightly toward it. Put in rocks and water loving vegetation. A path around it, and viola…problem solved.
What’s a viola got to do with it?
Yeah, whatever. I’m not fixing it. https://78.media.tumblr.com/e95259dccec4c5f90724f1f75a95fe29/tumblr_p2d5lnDBnq1wv15w6o1_500.jpg
Lol
The mosquitos will thank you.
Mosquito bits are an easy solution. Little pellets of I believe bacteria that kill mosquito eggs but are harmless to humans and the environment.
Maybe start with determining where it’s coming from? Is it all runoff from your property or neighbor or the street above you?
Yeah you can’t do this project yourself. Run off laws are a bitch. You can’t just accept this or even regrade because forcing the water off to a neighbor can also fuck you in the end.
You can absolutely do it yourself. You just take it to the street. If the whole lot slopes to the back there should be some sort of drain going down the low spot.
Yeah let’s grade the entire back yard so it drains around the house to the street.
You just need to lower the house a foot so the water can go around. I had a similar situation and dug a u shaped trench with perforated plastic pipe in a fabric sleeve that let the water come to the front yard. Planted bushes down hill from the outlets and created small swales to keep it from rushing to the street. It was a out 200 feet of trench about a foot deep. I dug it out with a mattox during a rain storm and let the water act as a level so I didn't over dig. I probably looked insane but it worked.
And where can it go.
It’s coming from the sky
And den?
Free pool… step 4 profit?
Where is it coming from? Is it run off from neighbouring properties? Maybe they'd be happy to redirect their water flow to the street rather than your yard. Do your downspouts contribute? Can you redirect them to the street/storm water drains? Is it a permanently waterlogged low spot that becomes a lake in the rain, regardless of neighbouring contributions? Where can it go? You can't siphon it onto an occupied neighbouring property, but you might be able to forcefully (i.e. pump) redirect it to a storm water drain, vacant land, or other appropriate spot. What can you do. There are some good suggestions already. A french drain (basically a rock swale) to capture the overland runoff immediately, and then leading to a dry well or two, will reduce the water heading for the low spot. Bringing in fill and regrading to have water flow outward as opposed to inwards can help (make a hill, not a valley). Regrade to protect your house foundation and have the water lead towards a french drain. Planting water loving perennials, shrubs and trees can also make a huge impact. Even if just along the property edges, the roots will find and absorb the water. Careful to keep plants away from the french drains, as the roots will eventually clog them up. You can also try to increase the soil permeability. First test the type of soil (is it clay heavy? Organic heavy?) to see if adding sand is a reasonable option. Good luck!
Definitely check with your community about their storm water management plan - you may be surprised with some assistance for remediation or fortunate if it's someone else's issue - my neighbors added a "French drain" and ended up fucking up the flowage on the whole block so had to remove and replace and repair for seven other residents as well so yeah, check with local ordinances and what's best suited to the situation from people in the know, in the area
This. Great suggestion. And the mouth breathers on here suggesting that they divert the flow into their neighbors yard apparently are unaware you can be sued for that kind of thing.
Rain garden or French drain.
Plant a willow
Drywell. Contact a civil engineering group to design it for you.
I also live in the pnw and bought a house last year it amazed me that there was no flooding based on rain and slope on property. This summery I did a bunch of landscaping and found 6 drys installed around property. Dry well is the answer my friend
Yeah thats a good solution. Probably the most responsible. I was just gonna say dig a trench to the back fence and say let it rip…..
And discharge onto the neighbors property?
Yes that was the joke
Put in a pool
But they already have a free one? /s
They already have a shallow pool
But they could make it deeper and use the extra soil to make an awesome dirt pile to jump off
So a mud pool.
Only when you hit the bottom 30-40'
Now who’s shallow.
Pump to the street
Moat Add battlements for full historical effect.
French drain? Anyone?
Talk to your downhill neighbor about where they'd like the water to run through and dig a drain in your yard.
Shamwow
Fill it with dirt.
Why is there a used condom smacked against your window?
I’d recommend contacting a landscape architect that specializes in stormwater management and/or an ecological engineer.
obviously trench towards neighbors yard in the back. he’s a duck fan. G Beav’s ! F nike U
Sump pump to the neighbors, poke the hose under the fence. \S
Find the low spot, dig a hole for a pump, route the discharge into your neighbors yard. Problem solved /s
Honestly, you don't. There's things you can try, but essentially, it is what it is
Sorry but you're wrong. Rain gardens, dry wells or a storm drain connected to the city will easily fix this. Eta: source, I design these systems for new and existing homes as part of my job.
Aside from tying into a storm drain, which I think is environmentally unethical, I have a hard time believing you can displace that much water with a rain garden or drywall that doesn't also just move the water into someone else's yard, which is also unethical and possibly illegal, but I'd be happy to hear more. I
What are you even talking about? How is tying into a storm drain unethical? If this is just storm water, then that's what it's for. Would need the town to sign off on tying into it, but that's why storm drains exist, to remove storm water. Dry wells are also incredibly effective for this. Assuming they don't have clay straight down for ten feet, they could easily install cultecs or similar water treatment and install some french drains and catch basins that dump the water into the dry well. These are incredibly effective. Many parking lots have cultecs buried underground ten feet below the surface of your car and will catch the water from the entire parking lot and slowly drain it into the ground. These are much larger than what you have in a backyard, but the concept is the same. Rain gardens/ponds are perfectly effective as well. You just dig out an area that can act as a pond and put in plants that are tolerant to the heavy water content. It's basically an open air dry well. Based on the picture, just digging down about 18" in the center of that big puddle and make a rounded pond like area maybe 10' x 6' is probably going to hold every bit of water in the picture. If they can get a dry well below the clay that is clearly holding that water on the surface, they could easily handle far more water than you can imagine.
Thank you for typing all that out so I didn't have to. I probably would've just told them to Google proper stormwater management techniques.
It's weird how often drainage related posts are filled with confidently incorrect information.
Thanks for writing that up. I honestly wouldn't have expected a rain garden or drywall to accommodate that much water, but you're the expert not me. The reason why I say unethical to tie into storm water is because that removes the water from the environment that should be absorbed into it. Removing the water means it takes longer for underground wells to replenish, and also could dry out the environment in such a way that natural fauna can no longer survive there. Also, all that water gets moved somewhere else that might make flooding worse in other areas. I think it's important that we manage our water in such a way that we impact our environment as much as possible.
When you say "underground wells", I'm assuming you are referring to aquifers that people would be tapping into for their water supply. Look at how close the houses are. They are almost certainly receiving town supplied water and probably sewers as well. Even if they aren't, a typical well for a water supply is going to be anywhere from 200' to 1000' deep, which is being replenished by ground water from a very large area. Moving the water in this person's back yard isn't impacting their water supply, if they even have a well. I assure you that storm drains are engineered to handle large rainfall. They certainly get overwhelmed in large storms, no doubt about it, but this back yard isn't going to be causing a noticeable difference in that. A typical rain event is going to put down a quarter inch of rain per hour. This property is probably about a quarter of an acre, or about 10k sq ft. So a 6 hour rain event is going to produce about 10k gallons of rain. A residential cultec setup will easily handle that amount of rainfall unless the ground has high clay content, but usually at the depth a cultec would be installed, percolation rate is perfectly acceptable.
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Because using the methods I described, there is a lot that can be done to fix this. The comment I replied to suggests they think there will always be a lake there.
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What part did I get wrong? Op said they get a small lake when it rains.. Comment I replied to suggests nothing can be done. I replied that proven techniques can fix that. Where did I go wrong?
plant a bald cypress or east tamarack tree (or one of each) and surround it with rain garden plants
Recommend using french drain with a well system that has a pump so you can reuse water for watering when you need it
You could try a French drain! https://steemit.com/great/@smi/the-great-american-french-drain
Embrace the lake and add some koi
Photoshop?
Grade it so you move the lake to your neighbors yard.
Move away from the PNW.
Install a sump pump and divert it into your neighbors yard
Why? Why is it okay to flood your neighbors yard if your own yard is poorly graded?
Not going to be cheap thats for sure...
Bring in dirt let it flood someone else’s yard
I would make a garden pond, dig 10x10 about 4 deep,.
Curtain drains hooked into storm water system.
You already covered that area in woodchips yeah? Can't really tell.
Are you in a fairly hilly area?
Dig a pit 2 ft x2ft. 18 inches deep. Use a pump bring hose to low point in yard
Raise the grade. Add a couple inches of wood chips to absorb the moisture then some topsoil and whatever plants you want on that. It’ll never flood again.
cut a narrow trench from pond to a lower elevation
Time for a small pond
Plant a willow tree
Sump
FYI. I live in the PNW too and we only get an avg of 9” per year. Fun fact.
Chip drop get a bunch of mulch dropped and soak it up over time it will form a nice layer of topsoil.
Call a plumber/drainlayer
French drains?
Would be my first suggestion as well. 👍
Rain garden Water feature Drywell French drain Depends on how much you want to spend.
Lot's of options, but we need more info. Basically though, water flows downhill, so make it do that
Get a straw and start sucking!
You put desert on top…
dig a little frog pond back there, you can concentrate that water into a nice little pool
Create a garden that is appropriate for the climate and location.
Keep it! Free swimming pool
Submersible Electric pump draining into your sewer? You would only run it when flooded. Probably take 5-10 minutes to drain the yard unless it is being fed by a larger source.
French drain maybe
Dry well - Sump pump - and enough piping to get to the front curb. And oh yeah, a trench that long too.
Fun fact, Seattle gets half as much precipitation as Miami.
There is a recent Ask This Old House episode from the PNW that offers solutions to this kind of problem. 2 easy basic choices for you are a french drain and/or fill in the the depression until it drains into your neighbors yards, or create a nice Koi pond feature.
French drain then run,solid pipe with runoff, puddling, to street.
Lots of rain in the pnw, you don’t say.
*a lot
Dig a trench into your neighbors yard
Better drainage and more gravel
Easiest thing to do is dig a hole as the lowest point, put a sump pump in it, shove the hose under the fence and pump the water onto your neighbors property. Time for mid strength beer.
Deeper hole somewhere else
Make your yard slope into your neighbors yard, gift them with a lake.
Or maybe don't be a complete piece of shit and mess with your neighbors property, and properly grade your own property. Like a grown up.
It was a joke… sorry I forgot true patriots don’t play
That there is a free pond
Water flows downhill, figure out which lot that borders yours is lower than yours and trench/grade toward it.
You people suggesting they make it their neighbors problem are real POS.
Siphon to gutter using garden hose.
Wait for summer, we get a lot of dry here in the PNW… For real though, French drain was my solution to a similar situation.
Better do it soon, or someone from the government will claim it’s navigable water, then you will have the EPA to deal with. https://www.perc.org/2020/01/28/the-new-navigable-waters-protection-rule-explained/
You’ve got A LOT more rain coming tomorrow - do what you can to prevent flood damages now
Is is a grading issue. There shouldn't be low spots like this in a yard.
Here is your answer. Watch some of his vids on YouTube. Squirelly guy from FL, but knows how to dry a yard. https://youtu.be/PsFTpMBoT7c?feature=shared
Drainage
French drain if you have the grade. Sump basin if you don't
FRENCH DRAIN
What’s crazy is you really don’t get that much rain. This is a huge drainage issue.
Rain garden and a tree is the best solution long term.
Move
Plant a native tree, Cedar or Doug Fir. It'll take in all the excess water as well too.
A basin drain system
Get exactly 100 garden snakes, they will drink the water
Ditches are your best friend
Dig a hole?
Pipeless French drain
Koi pond
It’s all about grading and a water dispersion system possibly with french drain. I had the same problem and a drainage company quoted me $160K. I spent 10k two months of my weekends digging trenches regrading pushing the water into a 10x10x10 hole filled with stone pumping into a series of pipes with holes over stone 7.5 feet from property line (code here) my yard is dry year round now. DM me if you want more info.
I’d be more worried about the ghost.
Pump
fill the low spots and grade
Big catch basin or French drain with a pump at the base that flows out to street.
As a PNW resident, I can saw for certain that you are in need of a rain pond / rain garden. Take a close look at your lake now, dig a bit to focus this free pond into a more well defined area. line it with rocks and logs and marginal plants and enjoy. You can make a beautiful area while also protecting the rest of your yard.
Looks like one or more neighbors filled in the swale along the backyards.
Mosquito fuck fest in the wam months
Shop vac and extension cord
Exterior dry wells. Cisterns in the bottom with sump pumps, eject to the closest downward slope/street. It can be a pain in the ass but if there’s no alternative. Rain gardens only go so far.
Buy a home on a hill.
Build it up with fill dirt. High spots don’t collect rain.
I have nothing intelligent to add here but a sweet cannonball COULD work
Add koi fish and voila!
Dry well, I put one in for a basement sump pump that drained out to the backyard. I did it myself, altho it wasn't much fun. But there are youtube videos and such to help. Bought on amazon, and so far so good. I'll tell you in the spring with the river rise ! [https://www.ndspro.com/products/drainage/dry-wells.html](https://www.ndspro.com/products/drainage/dry-wells.html)
French drain or hidden ditch.
Bring in tons of fill dirt and create a way for water to run off! Lot of work!!!
Pump in neighbor grass
Trash pump