I saw a red tagged house, caused by one of the many Southern California storms a few blocks away.  The lot sits against an 80+foot slope, this estimate is based on how many 8′ drains the slope has.  At the bottom swale, I saw my first blowout underneath the concrete swale in this part of the Glendale mountains.  Not only that but part of the hillside slid into the swale and over bringing all sorts of the huge slope down into the person’s backyard.   Currently, this lot which is basically by itself, would most likely be designed as a small debris basin to handle the massive amount of stormwater that comes down the mountain.

My thoughts were swirling thinking there must be a way to design a swale and slope so they don’t blow out over time.  Especially from the rodents and everything else that dig the dirt away.