NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center issued its latest ENSO update on September 10, 2026. The summary is short: El Niño is strengthening, with a greater than 90 percent chance of a very strong event during the fall and winter of 2026-27.
Worth being precise about what that means. El Niño is a climate pattern, not a storm on a calendar. A strong event raises the odds of a wetter than usual winter in Southern California. It does not promise San Diego any particular amount of rain, and NOAA’s own language is that with an event of this size the chances of El Niño-type impacts are larger, though not guaranteed.
So this is not a warning. It is a reason to look at the part of your property that only matters when it rains, and that most people never think about until water is standing somewhere it should not be: the storm drains on your own land.
The storm drains on your property are yours
There is a common assumption that storm drains are the city’s problem. Some are. Many are not, and the ones that cause most of the trouble are not.
Public, and not ours to touch: the curb inlets along the street, the grates at the corner, and the municipal system they feed. Those belong to your city or, in unincorporated areas, the county.
Private, and your responsibility: everything that collects and carries rain on your own property. Area drains in planters, patios and courtyards. Yard drains and the round or square grates set into lawns and slopes. French drains that collect groundwater and runoff below the surface. Trench drains across driveways and garage entries. The inlets and catch basins on a commercial lot or in an HOA common area. And all the pipe running underneath them to wherever it discharges.
That second list is what we work on. We clear private storm drains, French drains and other exterior drainage lines for San Diego property owners regularly, and after a heavy rain it is one of the most common calls we get.
What actually blocks them
A private storm drain rarely fails suddenly. It fills gradually, and then one day there is volume.
Leaves and needles are the obvious one, and they build up fastest at grates set below grade where water and debris both collect.
Sediment is the one people underestimate. San Diego County has a lot of slope, a lot of decomposed granite and a lot of bare or lightly planted ground. Every irrigation cycle and every rain moves a little of it downhill into the nearest inlet, and it settles in the pipe rather than washing through.
Landscape debris and mulch wash in from beds that sit higher than the drain.
Roots find surface drain lines the same way they find sewer lines. Tree roots are one of the two reasons San Diego County lines fail, and a shallow drain line under mature planting is an easy target.
The catch is that the grate usually looks fine. You can have a clear grate over a pipe that is two thirds full.
Warning signs worth acting on
- Water standing over a grate after ordinary irrigation, not just after a storm
- A drain that empties visibly slower than it used to, or gurgles
- Silt or sediment fanning out around an inlet
- Water taking a new path across a driveway, walkway or lawn
- Ground that stays soggy near a drain line, or a damp patch on a wall near one
- A parking lot, courtyard or low corner that ponds in the same spot every single rain
- Grates you cannot see the bottom of
One or two of these on a property that has never had its drainage cleared is worth a look before the rain rather than during it.
What you can check and clear yourself
Most of this is an afternoon, and on many properties it is all that is needed.
- Lift and clear the grates you can safely reach. Leaves, silt, mulch, trash. Clear the area around the inlet too, not just the grate itself.
- Cut back planting that has grown over an inlet. Groundcover closes over a yard drain faster than people expect.
- Check where your downspouts discharge. They should send water away from the foundation and toward drainage, not into a planter beside the wall.
- Run a hose into the inlet and watch. This is the most useful five minutes on the list. If water pools at the grate or backs up instead of running away, the restriction is downstream in the pipe, and clearing the grate will not fix it.
- Note what happens during ordinary irrigation. Where water collects in dry weather is where it will collect in a storm, only more so.
Three things not to do. Do not pour chemical drain cleaner into a storm drain. In most of the county it discharges untreated, and it does nothing to sediment or roots anyway. Do not run a rented cable or snake down a storm drain line. We do not use cable on these lines at all, because a cable can easily get stuck in the line, and then you have two problems instead of one. And do not try to lift a heavy commercial grate on your own or dig to find a line.
When professional clearing makes sense, and when it does not
Not every storm drain needs professional cleaning. Plenty of properties need the grates cleared once a year and nothing else, and it is worth saying that plainly.
It is worth a call when:
- Water still stands after you have cleared the grate, which points to a blockage in the pipe rather than at the surface
- The same spot ponds every rain, year after year
- The system has never been cleared and nobody knows where the pipes run or where they discharge
- There is mature planting over the line and you suspect roots
- It is a commercial lot, HOA common area or multi-unit property, where there are more inlets, longer runs and more consequence if it backs up
- Standing water reaches a building, a garage or a below-grade entry
If none of that describes your property, do the checklist and leave it alone.
When we do clear a storm drain, French drain or other exterior drainage line, we jet it rather than cable it. High pressure water cuts through sediment, packed debris and root growth without the risk of a cable getting caught, which is why we do not run cable in storm drain lines at all. Once the line is open we put a camera down it, so you can see what actually caused the blockage and what condition the pipe is in.
If water is rising during heavy rain
Clear the grate if you can do it safely. Move anything water can ruin off garage and ground-level floors. Stay out of standing water near electrical outlets or fixtures, and do not drive or walk through it.
Then call. A person answers our phone 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and emergency drain service is what we do. If water has already got into the building, we also handle flood and water damage cleanup, including the documentation your insurer will ask for. For what to do in the minutes before anyone arrives, our step-by-step guide is worth reading now rather than then.
When to call the city instead
If the flooding is in the street, or the blocked grate is a curb inlet on the public right of way, that is a public agency’s job, not ours.
In the City of San Diego, the Storm Water Department is responsible for the storm drain system in the public right of way and in drainage easements. Blocked public storm drains are reported through the city’s Get It Done app, and 619-527-7500 is listed for non-emergency flooding reports. In unincorporated areas, County Public Works Field Operations takes drainage reports at 619-443-1260 on weekdays. Other cities in the county run their own systems, so check with yours.
On your side of the property line, call us.
One more private line worth knowing about
While you are thinking about what is yours: so is your sewer lateral. The City’s own guidance is that the entire length of the lateral, from your building to its connection with the city main under the street, is private property, and keeping it clear of roots, grease and debris is the owner’s responsibility.
Different system from your storm drains, same principle. If you have had recurring slow drains or backups indoors, that is worth sorting before a wet winter too, and a sewer camera inspection is how we find out what is actually in the line. Ordinary interior clogs are drain cleaning.
A sensible plan for this fall
Walk the property. Clear every grate you can reach. Run a hose into each one and watch where the water goes. If it pools, or if the same low spot floods every year, get it looked at now, while scheduling is easy, rather than during the first week of steady rain when it is not.
We serve La Mesa, El Cajon, Santee, Ramona, Poway and across San Diego County, and you get the price before any work starts.