There are several things you can do to help prevent or minimize drainage problems:
- Clear the gutters on your house. Blockages can cause runoff to pond in your yard, or cause damage to your home. Similarly, keep the roadside ditch/swale and any inlets free from obstructions.
- Consider property and landscaping alterations that decrease runoff and increase infiltration, such as: rain gardens, rainwater harvesting, permeable hardscaping, soil amendments, restoration of stream buffers, impervious disconnection, etc.
- Rake or remove materials that can block drains, swales and culverts such as roadside leaves, branches, litter, and weeds. Vegetative debris in this area is a primary cause of storm drain problems.
- Keep the floodplain on your property clear of grass clippings, leaf piles, other vegetative debris, tires, toys, yard items, branches, signs, etc. that can be carried by water flows and block culverts.
- Check the path of water flow in the floodplain during a storm and once it’s safe to do so, remove any debris from that area. This helps prevent materials from causing blockages.
- Call Public Works at 919-918-7425 about assistance for issues in the public right of way or defects in or around the public drainage system like broken concrete, holes in the ground over pipes or around structures and severe erosion. Keep the area easily accessible in case repairs or maintenance is required.
- Do not alter drainage easements, stream buffers, or floodplains by placing sheds or other structures in them or filling them in without first getting permission from the Town.
- Identify drainage impacts to nearby properties before starting improvements on your property. Installing or extending downspouts and constructing raised driveways, fences and landscape beds can block the natural flow of runoff, create standing water and have other impacts on your neighbor's property.
See Appendix 4 for a list of flooding-related resources.
