Yard and storm drain cleaning in Las Vegas: getting ready for monsoon storms

Las Vegas gets very little rain, which is exactly why yard and storm drains get forgotten. Then a summer monsoon storm drops a heavy downpour in under an hour, the ground can’t absorb it, and water has nowhere to go but toward your foundation, garage or pool deck. Most of the damage we see after a storm comes from drains that were blocked long before the first cloud showed up. A little attention before monsoon season goes a long way.

When to check your drains

The Southwest monsoon brings the valley its most intense storms, typically from midsummer into September. Two checks a year work well: one in the fall, to clear out the sand and debris the summer storms left behind before winter rain, and one in late spring, before the next monsoon season. It is worth a quick look after any big windstorm, too, because wind fills drains with sand faster than rain does.

Who looks after which drains

There are two very different systems at work:

• Public storm drains and flood channels. Street inlets, the large concrete washes and the detention basins around the valley are built and maintained by local government: your city (Las Vegas, Henderson or North Las Vegas) or Clark County, along with the regional flood control district. If a street inlet near you is blocked, report it to your city or the county rather than trying to clear it yourself.
• Private drains on your property. Yard drains, area drains in planters and courtyards, channel or trench drains across driveways and patios, downspout lines, and the pipes that carry that water to the street or a curb outlet are the property owner’s responsibility. These are the ones that most often cause trouble.

What clogs drains in the desert

• Sand and dust carried by wind, which settles in pipes and hardens when it gets wet.
• Landscape rock and decomposed granite washed off beds during a storm.
• Leaves, palm debris and seed pods, which mat together over drain grates.
• Roots from trees and shrubs, which find their way into joints in buried drain pipe.
• Crushed or sagging pipe, often under areas that have been driven over or re-landscaped.

Signs a drain isn’t doing its job

• water pooling around grates, along the side of the house or against the garage door after rain or irrigation;
• a drain grate full of sand or gravel, or one you can no longer find under rock;
• muddy streaks or white mineral marks on stucco, walls or the base of the slab where water has stood;
• water bubbling up from a yard drain instead of flowing into it;
• the curb outlet or discharge point dry while the yard floods, which suggests a blockage somewhere in between.

What you can do yourself

1. Clear the grates. Lift each grate and scoop out sand, rock and leaves. Rake landscape rock back from the drain so the next storm doesn’t wash it straight in.
2. Flush with a hose. Run water into each drain and check that it comes out freely at the other end. Water that backs up or drains slowly means a clog further down.
3. Check downspouts. Make sure gutters are clear and that downspouts empty into a drain line or onto a splash block that carries water away from the house, not against the foundation.
4. Look at the grading. Soil and rock beds next to the house should slope away from the walls. Over the years, landscaping often ends up built up against the house, sending water the wrong way.
5. Keep the street inlets clean. Never sweep or hose yard waste, gravel or grass clippings into the street. Storm drains in the valley carry water to the Las Vegas Wash and on to Lake Mead without treatment.

When to call a professional

If flushing doesn’t clear a drain, or it keeps clogging, the blockage is usually out of reach in the buried pipe. A plumber can clear it with a drain cable, and for packed sand, silt and roots, hydro jetting scours the full width of the pipe so it stays clear longer. A camera inspection shows whether the pipe is crushed, separated or full of roots, so you fix the cause rather than clearing the same clog every season. Our drain cleaning and repair page explains how we diagnose and clear problem drains.

Where the ground around a home or below-grade space can’t drain naturally, a sump pump may be the more reliable answer. It is worth testing one before the season starts if you already have it.

Get your drains ready before the storms

Las Vegas Air Conditioning clears and repairs drains across Las Vegas and surrounding areas, with 24/7 emergency service when a storm catches you out. Call 702-497-0888 or schedule service online.