Can Heavy Rain Cause Issues With My Plumbing?

All waste and wastewater leaving your home travels through a set of drain pipes that empty into a much larger city sewer pipe. You may have noticed during a major storm with a lot of rain or during a flash flood that you have issues with your home’s plumbing. That is neither unusual nor a coincidence. 

The Curb Drain Can’t Contain

The curb drain grates you see on your street help funnel a lot of rainwater away from homes and properties. When the rainwater gets to the street, it rushes along the curb until it gets to the curb drain. You may have heard the rushing water as it falls into the accumulating water below ground. During a flash flood or an excessive amount of rainfall, the curb drains can’t drain away the water fast enough. The curb drains overflow and can’t properly empty, reflecting too much water above and below ground. 

As such, the flooding below ground resorts to retreating to where it came from, but because water can’t move upward against gravity, it chooses the path of least resistance. It goes back into the drain pipes coming from homes. When more and more water forces itself backward into these pipes, the water and water pressure in your home’s pipes increases and begins to push raw sewage back into your home and into any open drain.

Worse Is the Clogged Drain Lines

When the backflow of your drain pipes begin, other debris that had fallen into the sewers comes with the backflow. You could end up with sticks, mud, rocks, clumps of grass, etc., in your plumbing. Eventually, your drain pipes and the pipes in your home suffer a similar fate. No water or waste can get through and the backflow comes through the sink, tub, and toilet drains. Get a plumber’s help to fix this before you run any water after the storm or flash flood.