Now where's that storm drain...?

[Tom M]

I see there's some rain and above-freezing temperatures in the forecast. At work, I was remarking how I wished I knew the precise location of the storm drain down at the corner, so I could dig for it.

One co-worker put me onto the idea of using Google Maps' Street View to pin down its location. Brilliant!

[aj1152]

I did a bit of storm-drain digging myself tonight. Our garage sits a couple inches below the alley and what keeps rain water at bay is the inch or so of gravel in my driveway that's higher than the alley and the garage, kind of like a levy.

With all of the anticipated melting they're calling for, I didn't want to have the six inches of ice that's built up in the alley plus the four foot snowbanks on both sides melt into my garage (which doesn't have a drain). So with a strong shovel and nothing else to do tonight, I dug through the ice and found the drain.

Only problem now: everyone that goes down the alley will need to negotiate the huge pothole I created... But at least I can say, "I did my part."