Why Does My Yard Flood After Rain?
In the Shreveport area, a yard that floods after rain is usually telling you one of four things: the soil cannot absorb water fast enough, the ground slopes the wrong way, roof water is being dumped in the wrong place, or the water has nowhere to leave.
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Why does my yard flood after rain?
Start with the rain itself. The National Weather Service puts Shreveport's normal yearly rainfall at just over 51 inches, with May and June often the wettest months. That is a lot of water landing on soil that, across much of Bossier City and east Shreveport, is Red River clay the USDA describes as poorly drained and very slowly permeable.
Clay like that takes in the first part of a storm and then stops. Everything after that has to run somewhere, and it follows the lowest path across your lot. If that path ends at your patio, your crawl space vents or a dip in the back yard, that is where the water collects.
The four usual causes
- Slow soil. Clay that absorbs almost nothing once it is wet. The fix is to move water off the lot, not to wait for it to soak in.
- Wrong grade. Settled fill or built-up beds that slope toward the house. Regrading the first few feet is often the whole answer.
- Downspouts. An inch of rain on a 2,000-square-foot roof is more than 1,200 gallons, and gutters that empty at the corners put all of it beside the walls.
- No outlet. A low spot with no path to the street or a ditch will hold water until it evaporates. A swale, a French drain or a catch basin gives it a way out.
What you can check yourself
Go out during or just after a hard rain. Note where water stands, where each downspout empties and which way the neighboring lots drain. Photos taken then are worth more than any description afterwards.
Clear gutters and extend downspouts a few feet from the house. If the problem eases, the cause was roof water. If it does not, the grade or the outlet is the issue.
When to call a drainage contractor
Call when water stands against the foundation, gets into a crawl space or garage, or keeps the same part of the yard wet for days. Those are the cases where a drain, a regrade or a sump pump earns its cost.
Common questions
Will aerating the lawn fix a flooding yard?
It can help a compacted lawn a little, but on heavy clay it rarely solves standing water. Moving the water to an outlet works far better.
Is a flooding yard bad for my foundation?
Repeated wetting and drying of swelling clay next to a slab or pier line can contribute to movement, so water that stands near the house is worth fixing first.
Related services
Get a drainage look at your property
Call (318) 216-6513 or use the callback form. Tell us where the water stands and when it shows up, and we will talk through what is likely causing it.