Flooding is a very serious issue.
Rampaging waters can damage your wiring, furniture, and numerous other items inside your home. Recouping losses caused by flooding is also a challenge, especially if you don’t have adequate coverage from insurance.
All those potential scenarios illustrate the need for you to invest in proper flood protection. Storm drain maintenance is an important aspect of flood preparedness.
Learn how to get storm drains ready for spring weather by continuing with the rest of this article.
What Is a Storm Drain?
To understand why storm drain maintenance is so essential, let’s first discuss what it actually does.
The main job of a storm drain is to prevent flooding. When storms pass through your area, they can unleash torrents of rain that can quickly overwhelm homes, roads, and passageways.
Flooding will ensue not long after that.
Storm drains are designed to prevent that type of flooding. They will catch the rainwater and pass them down a long drain line. Usually, those storm drains end up leading to some body of water.
Notably, storm drains aren’t just useful for clearing floods. Communities and households also rely on them heavily during the springtime.
The piles of snow that have gathered on homes and roads will start to melt as the weather starts to warm up. The water produced by that occurrence has to go somewhere. More often than not, the storm drains will handle the disposal of that snow water.
Storm drains help prevent flooding, and they also keep our homes and roads safe. Getting storm drains ready for spring is essential if you want them to do their job properly.
What Needs To Be Done to Storm Drains Before Spring?
Preparing storm drains for the arrival of spring is critical, but how exactly should you go about doing that? Detailed below are some of the things you can do to get your storm drain ready for the warmer weather. Keep them in mind as you go through your spring cleaning routine.
Clear as Much Debris as You Can
Just like any other drain, the performance of a storm drain will suffer if it is clogged. You need to keep debris away from it to ensure that it will be able to do its job properly.
Clear as much debris as you can from the storm drain by sweeping its surroundings. You should also pick up any pieces of garbage that are located near the storm drain. Dispose of them properly so they don’t end up contributing to flooding.
Shovel Snow Away From Storm Drains
Do you still have some piles of snow around your home? If so, you may want to shovel them away from where the storm drains are located.
Mounds of snow can stop the storm drains from doing their job. Get rid of the snow immediately instead of waiting for it to melt.
Avoid Using Oils and Harsh Chemicals Near Storm Drains
Lastly, you want to avoid using oils and harsh chemicals around storm drains.
Oils that move down a storm drain can be problematic because they can coat the walls of the drain itself. Meanwhile, certain chemicals are capable of corroding the storm drain.
Avoid using those items if you know that they will end up in the storm drain somehow.
Storm drains are essential to keeping our roads and homes free from standing water. Make sure those storm drains are able to work as intended by following the tips in this article.