Spring is when a Plano yard shows what its drainage can and can’t handle. At Clay Plano Drainage Company we plan and build yard drainage across Plano, and this spring storm yard drain checklist is what we would have you check before the wet months, during a storm and after one.
Why spring is the test
Plano’s rain peaks twice a year, in late spring and in fall. On the long-term NOAA normals for a west Plano station, May is the wettest month at 5.04 inches, with October close behind at 4.87.
Those storms come hard. The normals for Richardson, next to south Plano, count about 27 days a year with half an inch of rain or more, and about 14 with an inch or more. A drain that copes with a light shower can be overwhelmed in an hour of that.
Before the storms: clear the way out
A yard drain is only as good as its exit. Work through these before the wettest weeks arrive.
- Pop-up emitters. Find each one in the lawn, pull out grass and mulch around the lid and press it to check it opens freely.
- Grates. Lift catch basin and channel drain grates and scoop leaves and silt out of the sump below.
- Cleanouts. Run a garden hose into each cleanout and watch for water at the emitter. Slow flow means a blockage building.
- Downspouts. Check each downspout is still seated in its adapter. A joint knocked loose by a mower dumps roof water right beside the slab.
- Swales. Walk the shallow channel along the side and back yards. New beds, edging, a fence post or a pile of mulch in a swale blocks it.
- Curb outlets. Look at where your pipes let out at the curb, and clear any leaves or grass packed in the opening.
Plano also expects you to keep drainage ditches on your property free of debris and growth, and it is illegal to dump debris into ditches and channels. If you plan beds, a fence or decking near a swale, check your plat for drainage easements first.
During a storm: watch and take photos
A real storm shows more than any dry-day walk. From a porch or a window, watch where the water goes and take photos or a short video.
- The roof. Note where downspouts overflow or where water pours off a roof valley with no gutter.
- The surface. Watch for water sheeting across the lawn, and which way it runs: toward the street, toward the house or toward the fence.
- The low spots. Note where puddles form during the storm and how fast they grow.
- The neighbors. See whether water arrives from a higher lot next door.
- The street. Check whether the curb line is filling. In heavy rain the street drains have limits too.
Stay inside in lightning, and never open a grate or step into moving water near a street inlet.
Two days later: read the yard
The day after a storm, most surface water should be gone. What is still wet two days later tells you the kind of problem you have.
| What you see two days later | What it usually means | Where to read more |
|---|---|---|
| Lawn dry, but a strip still soft underfoot | Water held in the clay with nowhere to go | French drain installation |
| A puddle that sat on top and is now gone | A low spot that needs an inlet or a small regrade | Catch basins |
| Wet soil along the slab under a downspout | Roof water soaking in beside the house | Downspout drainage |
| Soil washed out at the end of a pipe | Outlet water moving too fast for the ground | Drain repair and cleaning |
| A side yard holding water between houses | A blocked or flattened swale | Side-yard drainage |
Houston Black clay, which covers central, east and north Plano, takes in only about 0.03 inches of water an hour. That is why a wet strip can outlast the storm by days.
Wet when it hasn’t rained at all
If a patch stays wet through a dry week, the storm isn’t the cause. It points to a leaking sprinkler line or an over-watered zone. The guide to a soggy yard with no rain walks through how to tell.
When to stop checking and call
Clearing and flushing keeps a working system working. It won’t fix a drain that was never right, or one that has broken underground.
Call for a site visit when:
- water reaches the slab or runs toward the house
- the same spot floods every storm
- a flushed line still runs slow
The guide on how to fix yard drainage problems explains how we match the fix to the water, and the drainage assessment tool helps you sort what you saw.
If you live near a creek, a flooded back yard may be creek flooding rather than a drainage fault. The guide on floodplain or drainage problems covers the difference. To talk through what the last storm showed you, call (469) 551-8518 or send photos through the form below.