6" of Rain - Gravel Driveway Catastrophe

[5030]

Glad that stayed up by you and not down here (Adrian). We got maybe an inch.

 

[Gordon Gould]

I'd say you did a pretty darn good job - especially considering only 2-1/2 hrs. For me it's always a trade off of how much I want to do now vs how often I am willing to fix it. It seems 2-1/2 hrs is a small job. What you did would be plenty good for me.

I have a similar situation where my neighbors hay field drains down the bank into my road ditch which is limited in depth because of ledge. About 10 years ago we had a whether scenario like you described and the ditch was over whelmed. This is after I fixed it back up.

Actually most of the town roads were washed out too - major damage everywhere. The ditch works fine except for exceptional storms but like /pine says - not so good if I don't keep the leaves cleaned out.

It's one of those jobs that are to easy to put off until tomorrow when it is hot and buggy.

gg

 

[fried1765]

First I had to switch from my box blade (my go-to summer time attachment) for the rear scraper blade. Clearly I would have a lot of grading to do to get things back into shape.

I started by filling up the eroded ditches. Thankfully I had a pile of reclaimed 2-3" crushed concrete right nearby to draw from. A bit mixed with dirt now, but hopefully will act more like rip-rap if this kind of disaster ever strikes again.



Got the ditches filled and drove over them a few times for compaction. Then it was time to reclaim and carry the gravel back up hill. Next, several passes back and forth with the rear grader blade, angled to pull from the edges towards the middle of the drive. Finally, flipping the blade around backwards to feather everything back out. I don't have energy or time to care for my areas of grass that got blasted with gravel deposits, so we'll just see how it recovers on it's own... sigh.



Above is the final product of a rushed 2.5 hour repair job. I have a quote coming from my excavation guy for a possible top-coat of more natural gravel - he's the best tailgate spreader I've ever seen and makes each yard go a long, long way.

Going forward, I'll need to find the time to make more major topographical changes to prevent this. I simply should not have to deal with roadway and road-frontage flooding using my driveway as a relief valve.

Excellent repair job!

 

[dlctcg]

Excellent repair job!

I'll second that... excellent... especially for completing it in 2.5hrs....

 

[oosik]

Well - poo. Since our TOTAL annual rainfall is 17 inches around here....... Six inches in a WEEK would be a major disaster. Your "fix" looks mighty fine to me.

I'm very pleased if we get half an inch in a 24 hour period.

 

[plowhog]

neighbor just raised the dirt level in the ditch on his side of my culvert so that it would be easier for him to mow the grass in it. I think he raised it just enough to pond his front yard during deluges, which can then head down my driveway instead.

Things vary by location, but in NV and CA you cannot (or should not) have any runoff from your property onto adjoining parcels.

I'm reworking my property now. My dirt contractor/excavator said he can't improve my side gravel road without installing drains and culverts because without them it would drain onto my neighbor's parcel. I said it already does that-- he said it doesn't matter. If he touches it, he can't leave it in a manner where it could drain to a neighbor even if it started out that way.

You might consider seeking your neighbor to abate the new hazard he created.

 

[MossRoad]

Nice job on the repairs deezler. That rain you got was the same one we got in this area. They said locally, it was the 4th heaviest rainfall on any single day since records have been kept.

 

[workinonit]

When we had the 1000 year flood in lowcountry SC a few years ago we got over 12" in 24 hours. I think it was 2 years later, maybe only 1 we got the second 1000 year flood with the same rainfall. Never seen anything like those 2 floods.

 

[deezler]

Thanks gents.

Got another heavy downpour last night, maybe 1 to 1.5". Looks like it washed my repaired edges a bit, but no real damage. The upshot is that it nicely cleaned all my sandy brown gravel in the rebuilt driveway into a nice natural grey again.

I-94 is still closed in Detroit. I guess building sunken highways that depend on having multiple functional electric pumps is a risky move in a city prone to vandalism and neglect.

 

[lman]

This is what it looks like east of my place. I've seen it worse. A few years ago the road was flooded like that both west and east of my place and I parked my squad car at my Amish neighbor's place west of the flooded road and used my canoe to get to my car. I've been here for 25 years and that was the worst that I had seen. The water here should be cresting today.