WET...Wonderland

[bigbeak]

Southern IN...I have a creek and when this monsoon?? comes my yard floods halfway up to my house which is a half acre of two acres. I try to landfill the banks of this creek. It keeps washing it away. How does a person keep a creek from becoming a river???? bb

[Patrick]

You don't, without an engineering degree, tons of money and a close relative on the board of the local environmental regulators.

[Oregon Swedes]

You could sue Mother Nature about the amount of rain.

Have an engineer take a look at it and see if there is anything he can recommend. I suspect that you chose a nice place on water frontage without checking the flood plain map and now you get what water does. Usually creek bed improvement has to be done along the entire length of the creek and it's outrageously expensive. But without seeing your place, I have no idea. Maybe there is something about the shape of the land that can be corrected, or maybe you can raise the level of your ground.

In the meantime, unless that flooding is a rushing torrent, you can plant plants with strong root systems to try to hold your earth so it doesn't wash away.

Be aware that in most places, it is illegal to do anything to change a watercourse without a permit. If you change anything and it results in flooding to a neighbor down stream, you can be liable for the damages.

[goosedragon]

You could sue Mother Nature about the amount of rain.

Have an engineer take a look at it and see if there is anything he can recommend. I suspect that you chose a nice place on water frontage without checking the flood plain map and now you get what water does. Usually creek bed improvement has to be done along the entire length of the creek and it's outrageously expensive. But without seeing your place, I have no idea. Maybe there is something about the shape of the land that can be corrected, or maybe you can raise the level of your ground.

In the meantime, unless that flooding is a rushing torrent, you can plant plants with strong root systems to try to hold your earth so it doesn't wash away.

Be aware that in most places, it is illegal to do anything to change a watercourse without a permit. If you change anything and it results in flooding to a neighbor down stream, you can be liable for the damages.

You might want to check downstream to see if any modifications have made which causes the stream to back up on your land and upstream to see if any modifications have been made to improve their drainage which allows it to rush downhill onto your property faster than your outlet will handle. Usually land that experiences annual flooding year after year takes on a different appearance, the soil will be different as well as the plants that live and don't on a flood plain. If it is a natural flood plain You will have to live with it, but if caused by man, you might get some corrections made.

[bigbeak]

You guys really know what's going on. Everything you all have said I am aware of. This flooding is over my field bed . We are all on septic tanks with field beds. If I involve the city my neighbors willl shit Ijust need to go with the flow..Thanks for your advice,it was right on!

[bigbeak]

Great useful information....Thank-you bb