Part way up our driveway, an 18″ culvert allows runoff to flow under the drive. On one side of the drive, there’s a small pond that sometimes goes dry. Other times, it flows through the culvert if it gets too high from runoff and rain. With this year’s unusually cold temperatures, the culvert is backed up with ice.

This has caused the water to rise to the level of the driveway, spreading out into the woods, trees ankle-deep in water. With above-freezing temps and rain in the forecast, the possibility of the water cresting over the drive was high.

My over-active anxiety brain had visions of the driveway washing out. For peace of mind, I parked my car on the far side of the culvert where this picture was snapped from.

Paul, who’s not typically a worrier like me, purchased a gas-powered pump. We set the pump up yesterday and let it run for two hours. The level dropped at least a foot. Based on the pump’s flow rate, we drained approximately 19,000 gallons of water.

This morning, I wandered down the drive to scope things out. Last night’s below-freezing temps slowed the runoff, but the water did rise 6 inches or so overnight.

As Paul geared up for another round of pumping this afternoon, I went for a walk in the woods–this view towards the house and duck pond from the woods.

During my wander, I discovered how far back into the woods the flooding goes–this view looks toward the drive where Paul is running the pump.

Paul pumped for two hours today. The top ice represents the high water mark when we began pumping today and the level when we finished.

The top of the culvert was visible as we packed up and headed back to the house. Tomorrow’s weather will be a repeat of today–sunny and cold, but Wednesday and Thursday will bring rain–and likely more pumping. I’m hoping for a warm up in temps!

This same thing happen 15 or so years ago, and it was a dance of monitoring and pumping until the weather was consistently above freezing and the exit end of the culvert thawed. Looks like we’ll be playing the same game again. And my anxiety brain will have me parking my car at the end of the drive and hiking up to the house.