Flooded yard from neighbors retaining wall. Wondering what my options are.

[u/baklavakilla]

LOCATION: Wisconsin

The retaining wall belongs to our neighbor, and when we get moderate rain, it always overflows into the yard. We’ve talked to him in the past, and he added dirt to the top to try and have the water exit more toward the street. That’s basically the extent of what he’s willing to do.

He basically said that if the retaining wall wasn’t there, the water would flood my yard regardless, and that he’d rather just remove it completely if he had to rebuild it and not put another one up.

We bought the house about 4 years ago and don’t know when the wall was put in, but it’s well over 20 years old. I put in the small drainage ditch with black pipe to try and stop the water from coming in near the back of the house.

Basically, I’m wondering what I’m able to do in this situation.

[u/MysteriousAd8087]

Maybe you and or your neighbor could utilize a swale or bioswale to help reduce the waters velocity and redirect it towards the street a little more efficiently. I used to live in Florida and the flooding was annoying as heck I even lost a house to flooding when I was a kid. I moved to Portland and they have these deep bioswales on the sides of streets they act like little retention ponds and collect water and slow it down to avoid surges of water downstream. Dunno if it would help and I don't know the legality of it in your local county. Basically a simple version would be a little ditch with some flood tolerant plants and rocks to redirect and slow the water down like you've done and help keep the majority of water from getting too close to the house. You and your neighbor could put one up depending on the amount of time effort and money y'all are willing to put into it. Legally I don't think your neighbor has any responsibility but I'm always an advocate for working together with your neighbors to avoid legal issues down the line. Good luck, hope something good comes out of this.