It's nice to see a member of the public learning first-hand about what infrastructure is, and why we need it.
On a related subject, I've always understood that most storm systems are designed for a five- or ten-year storm at most. Perhaps someone with more civil background could comment on that.
Made it to 04:00.?ÿ You're a patient person, or bored to tears
It is largely a factor of what are the potential damages based on different time spans.
This is the very sort of thing that people should not be doing.?ÿ This guy seemed to be aware of where the grates were and how they were made.?ÿ Someone else sees this video and decides to do the same thing somewhere for which they do not know precisely where the drains are and how they were made.?ÿ People die when they do stupid things.?ÿ The nearly still water seems harmless.?ÿ The drainage port is not harmless, especially if it is not grated.
@rplumb314 We used Georgia DOT standards and designed for the 25 years storm.?ÿ We almost never used grated inlets because they plug so easily.?ÿ A little paper or a few leaves and water just can't enter like it should.
Andy
This is the very sort of thing that people should not be doing.?ÿ This guy seemed to be aware of where the grates were and how they were made.?ÿ Someone else sees this video and decides to do the same thing somewhere for which they do not know precisely where the drains are and how they were made.?ÿ People die when they do stupid things.?ÿ The nearly still water seems harmless.?ÿ The drainage port is not harmless, especially if it is not grated.
The DPW where I live asks the public to clear off any clogged catch basin grates during heavy rain events. Leaves in the fall, ice and snow in the winter are the usual culprits. The fire department asks us to keep the hydrants shoveled out in winter. They can get thoroughly buried by plowed snow after a good storm.
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Twenty years ago I was designing the layout for an addition to a Catholic Cemetery because the portion that was being used was nearly out of room.?ÿ One evening I received a call from my contact asking how quickly I could mark out a lot, just one.?ÿ A local lad of about 12 or 13 had been playing with some friends during a heavy rain.?ÿ A standard road culvert (24-30-inch corrugated metal pipe) was overloaded.?ÿ Swirling water plus water crossing the road.?ÿ The youngsters went in to explore.?ÿ Suddenly, this lad was sucked into the culvert but never came out.?ÿ There was no kind of grate to block flow.
The family wanted to bury him in the new part, directly across the road from his grandfather's grave.?ÿ We had it done by noon the next day while the backhoe operator waited to dig the hole.
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People die when they do stupid things
We had a lot of rain here, in November (Duh, this is Washington) and
Two pre-teens were rescued after getting sucked into storm drain
The Cow is right; if you don't know what you're doing, don't do it!
Years ago one of the local municipalities had several "drop" storm inlets which was merely a square junction box with no lid.?ÿ Being a safety concern they wanted to upgrade the inlets.?ÿ The engineer I worked for did some quick hydraulic witchcraft.?ÿ With the help of a Neenah catalog the city was presented with an estimate to upgrade the boxes with proper inlets.
Too much the city thought.?ÿ Instead they sent the public works boys out with welding gear and torch to hand make several "baby strainers" for these boxes.?ÿ Several had 3'x3' openings and one or two that were near 4'.?ÿ Two of them had 72" rcp leaving them and the openings were over 6'.?ÿ But the 'stop sign crew' did their magic with a lot of rebar and angle iron.?ÿ The world was now safe.
A few rains came and went and the grates seemed to be working...until we got the inevitable 'gully washer'.?ÿ ?ÿThe two larger boxes suffered the most.?ÿ The homemade grates worked great with just water dumping into them.?ÿ But throw on 20 cy of brush and debris and the weight collapsed the rebar affairs.?ÿ This compromised the entire reach and there was some localized flooding.?ÿ The biggest victim was the mayor's paint store right next to the creek.?ÿ
Needless to say the city eventually ponied up enough money to bring the inlets into the 20th. century.?ÿ ;)?ÿ ?ÿ?ÿ
I've always understood that most storm systems are designed for a five- or ten-year storm at most.
I'm no expert but in flood prone areas new residential construction with curb&gutter streets are designed thusly:
- Storm drain system.?ÿ As you say designed for roughly 10 year floods; mostly they're there to efficiently remove nuisance water.
- Full flow in the street from top of curb to top of curb, a surprising amount of water.?ÿ Much more than even the largest storm drain system could handle.
- Mandatory structure building pad design 3'-5' or more above top of curb,?ÿ which allows a flood prism 2' or more feet above top of curb without impacting structures.?ÿ That folks, is a tremendous amount of water, hopefully more than a 100+ year flood could generate.
My drainage buddies say the storm drain system is just a small part of what they design;?ÿ more important is the grading plan and logistics of accepting offsite upstream flow, directing the onsite precipitation into the system without pooling (except bioswales) and discharge/retention/detention facilities to prevent the offsite downstream flow from causing damage.
They are quite inventive, requiring vegetation establishment to curtail erosion and incorporating sacrificial elements in the design:?ÿ athletic fields, parks, golf courses and open space which can be inundated with minimal long term damage, etc.?ÿ I have a lot of respect for them.
This is the very sort of thing that people should not be doing.?ÿ This guy seemed to be aware of where the grates were and how they were made.?ÿ Someone else sees this video and decides to do the same thing somewhere for which they do not know precisely where the drains are and how they were made.?ÿ People die when they do stupid things.?ÿ The nearly still water seems harmless.?ÿ The drainage port is not harmless, especially if it is not grated.
The proper thing to do is to make sure that your drains are clear BEFORE the rain. Every so often, I clean the leaves off the one in front of my house, better safe than sorry.
I am serving on the Board of Directors for a Rural Water District.?ÿ The lake that was the source of water for the first 20 years is still our responsibility despite having withdrawn no water for almost 40 years.?ÿ A county road was moved to use the dam as if it was a standard roadway and the concrete emergency spillway must be maintained.?ÿ There are 6 iron pipes in the concrete to minimize times when water would be standing in the spillway area.?ÿ A local bozo decided the lake needed to be a bit deeper so he installed?ÿ screens over the entry side of the pipes.?ÿ I discovered what he had done, and tore them out.?ÿ Within a month or two, they magically reappeared.?ÿ I tore them out again.?ÿ He gave up.?ÿ He never knew who foiled his silly plan.?ÿ He does his fishing in Heaven these days or possibly the River Styx.
