If the Detention Pond Meets the Rules, Why Is My Neighborhood Still Flooding?
A detention pond can meet its stormwater requirements while a neighborhood downstream still floods. The difference between how fast water arrives and how much arrives explains why both can be true.
What Happens When It Rains?
Rain is the third kind of water in a city, and nobody turns it on. Follow a raindrop from roof, lawn, or street through Columbia’s drainage systems to the Congaree River.
Why a 1-Hour Thunderstorm Can Cause More Flooding in Columbia Than a Day of Rain
Why rainfall intensity, timing, drainage paths, and downstream conditions can produce serious local flooding even when 24-hour rainfall totals seem modest.
Why Stormwater Facilities Fail: Design, Construction, Maintenance, or Changed Conditions?
Stormwater failures rarely fit neatly into one category. This article explains how design assumptions, field execution, deferred maintenance, and changes to the surrounding watershed can interact, and outlines the evidence used to distinguish among them.