Question
With all the rain here in florida our yard & pool have flooded twice. The county guys came out, after checking everything they determined it was the lack of curbs & drainage and they would report it but it would take a couple of years to fix, is there anything we can do in the meantime? We are on a hill and are the 3rd house from the end.  They county guy suggested sandbags along the fence, how unattractive is that. Do you have any suggestions?

Thank you.

Answer
Yard & pool flooding?  Sounds pretty serious...and your options are sandbags for YEARS?  Nope.  Unacceptable.  

The goal is to convey this water downstream, and not into your pool. Maybe you can you put the curb in or repair the broken curb yourself, instead of waiting for the slow wheels of progress at city hall.  Maybe even send them the bill. How much is it worth to you?

If you don't want to pay for cub & gutter for your street, then I would consider installing an earthen berm, redirecting the water elsewhere - apply care to keep this excess flow in the city's right-of-way, and not dumping it onto your neighbor!! (That wouldn't be nice!)

If your lot is on the smallish side, maybe a low wall (1-2 ft.) might be better suited for the task. after all, a curb is nothing but a low, 6-inch high concrete wall, anyway.

And wrapping the ends around is important as water WILL seek its own level, and will slosh right back around a straight barrier.

As to specific design, it would require a local view of the situation (slopes, amount of run-off, etc.) that I just cannot do across the internet.

~Marc