Flood prone areas in Lakeside

[Marlayne]

I've been hearing lately about heavy rains and some flooding in Lakeside, such as in some parts of Riberas. Can anyone weigh in as to which areas along Lakeside are most prone to flooding? Is it areas that are closer to the lake? We've been looking to purchase a home and would like to be aware of flood prone spots. Thanks for any insights you can provide. 

[mhopkins2]

Lower  Riberas often has water standing in the streets.

[ComputerGuy]

"Flooding" around here comes from heavy rains, and it is not what you would associated with "floods". Yes, heavy rushing water, streets filling up for brief periods. Always driveable, goes away shortly thereafter. Problems come more on the mountain side, when rocks and loose detritis get pushed down onto the streets. But apart from the odd highway office suffering damage, houses along the shore have not been prone to danger for many years. That is not to say it is never going to happen, and certainly the water table is higher, causing shifting of structures, almost none of which were ever built on tolerant foundations. At one point the lake was up near the highway, long before I moved here. I imagine we will get plenty of warning about that ever happening again.

Guadalajara is much more susceptible, as their drainage systems are pathetic. Here, everything just goes into the lake. One reason many people throw their trash out of their car windows... they know it will get washed away.

[WideSky]

Flood prone areas lakeside -  Have you been here? We live in the mountains, when it rains water flows downhill, which can bring all kinds of sh*&^t  with it. The streets can really flow during a heavy downpour and there are certain 'paths' the water takes. Easy to tell after an overnight shower and people are shoveling sand, gravel, garbage out of the way. Yes the water table gets pretty high particularly closer to the lake.  Check out the rainfall chart on  http://www.chapalaweather.net/   You can see we get quite a bit of rain in a short period of time (8.69" so far in July)

Soil here has a lot of clay in it, so lots of water retention.
If you are thinking flood plains, like NOB, then no

ComputerGuy and I think alike but he just types faster than I do.

[Ferret]

20 minutes ago, mhopkins2 said:

Lower  Riberas often has water standing in the streets.

If the street is potted then I agree. My street does not and I do live in lower Riberas. I agree with ComputerGuy and WideSky.

[Sea]

Adding to what the others have said, there a lot of arroyos running from the mountains to the lake. They fill and sometimes flood. Sometimes they've been blocked or built over. When you look at any home here, you want to ask about arroyos and drainage. I wouldn't be thrilled to be right by an arroyo.

The high curbs on the streets turn all the streets into open drains to the lake, as WideSky explained. Just be aware that water needs to go somewhere and look around for natural drainage. Also, when you buy property, look at how water will drain from it. My contractor thought I was crazy for insisting on drainage from my enclosed back yard. It's important, even if the convention in your area is just to drain into the street. I build a drainage cistern, but I don't know if that's common.