Florida Drainage: What You Can Control Before the Next Wet Season

If you live in Edgewater or Florida Shores, you have probably seen the city out here lately. The grapple trucks are cleaning out ditches and those loud vacuum trucks are pressure washing the drainage tubes under driveways. People notice that stuff because it is hard to miss. It is a big, noisy reminder that water is a serious issue in our neighborhoods.

Even though it is winter and the ground is dry, this is actually the season to get ready. When the wet season ramps back up, the weak links in your yard show up fast. If you wait until the streets are holding water and your grass is already underwater, you are just reacting. And in this business, reacting always costs more money and more stress.

I am not here to play the blame game. Growth is happening in Volusia County whether we like it or not. We are dealing with decades of old maintenance decisions and weather that just does not behave like it used to. The only move that actually works is focusing on what you can control on your own property.

The Simple Truth: Water Needs a Path

Water is predictable. It follows the easiest path every time. On most of our properties, it starts on the roof, hits the gutters, and then moves across the yard to the front swale. From there, it goes through your driveway tube and into the neighborhood ditch system.

The breakdown happens when one part of that path stops working. Most "mystery flooding" is just water getting stuck because its intended path is blocked, crushed, or too shallow.

The Hidden Headache: Driveway Tubes

In Florida Shores, not every driveway is the same. Some have a tube under them and some do not. Some driveways dip down and act like the ditch itself. This matters because a lot of people think the "drainage system" is just the ditch they can see.

In reality, the hidden parts decide if the water moves at all. If the tube under your driveway is clogged with sand or old grass clippings, it does not matter how nice your swale looks. The whole thing becomes a bathtub.

The Quick Check: Go look at both ends of your driveway pipe. If you see a pile of sand blocking the opening or the outlet is buried under dirt, that is a red flag. This is exactly why those vacuum trucks are out here. Cleaning those tubes is one of the best things you can do before the rain starts hitting hard.

Don’t Just Dig. Walk.

When I look at a property, I start with a walk, not a shovel. I look at where your downspouts are dumping. If they are pouring water into a low pocket right next to your house, you are losing the battle before it even starts.

I also look at the "grade" or the slope of the yard. You can see the truth in the dirt. Look for the spots where the grass has died or where silt has piled up. Those are the yard’s ways of telling you where the water is getting stuck.

Landscaping is Part of the Fix

Most people think drainage is only about pipes. The truth is your landscape can either help the water move or make it fight you.

If your yard is just hardpan sand and thin grass, the water sheds off it fast and carves out ruts. If you have healthy plants with deep roots in the right spots, you can slow that runoff down and keep your soil where it belongs. This is why "Managed Ecology" actually matters. A healthy root zone manages water better than bare sand ever will.

Stop Guessing

The goal here is to understand your own system. When everyone gets frustrated about flooding, the conversation usually just turns into noise.

But if you know your flow path, you can talk to your neighbors or the city with specifics. You can point out that a specific outlet is buried or a certain tube is collapsed. That makes you much more effective at getting things fixed.

Water is going to do what it wants. Once you understand the path it takes on your property, you stop guessing and start making changes that actually hold up when the next storm rolls through.

Good Luck out there! - Ray Jr.