Yard drainage in Youngsville, Louisiana
Drainage help for one of Louisiana's fastest-growing small cities, surrounded by sugarcane fields.
Youngsville is in southeastern Lafayette Parish, about 10 miles south of downtown Lafayette, with Broussard to the east. It nearly doubled in size between 2010 and 2020, growing from 8,105 to 15,929 residents, and much of that growth came as new subdivisions built on former cane land.
What the 2016 flood changed
In August 2016, homes in several parts of Youngsville took 7 to 12 inches of water. According to KATC's report on the city's response, the drainage standard at the time was a five-year storm. It has since been raised to a 25-year storm, and the city has built more than 100 acres of regional detention. The city's engineer told KATC that no occupied structures flooded during a 100-year storm in 2025.
What that means for your yard
Bigger public detention helps the neighborhood, but it doesn't fix a lot that holds water on its own. In young subdivisions, the usual culprits are backfill that settled against the slab, patios and pool decks that tilt toward the house, and rear swales cut off by privacy fences. Many lots here are also nearly flat, so a French drain or downspout line needs careful elevation planning to reach the street.
Common jobs
- Regrading settled soil along the slab
- Channel drains at garages and pool decks
- Downspout lines run to the curb
- Swales reopened along rear fences
Common questions
Who handles drainage permits in Youngsville?
Youngsville is its own city, so call city hall about permits and public drainage rather than LCG.
My new house holds water. Is it the builder's problem?
Possibly. Check your builder warranty first, and take photos and video during rain to document it.
Services in Youngsville
- French drainsGravel-and-pipe trenches that drain soggy low spots and saturated side yards.
- Downspout drain linesBuried solid pipe that carries roof water away from the slab to the street or a ditch.
- Yard grading and swalesReshape a flat yard so surface water has a slope to follow to the street or a ditch.
- Catch basins and channel drainsGrated drains that pick up water at patios, driveways and low corners of the yard.
- Driveway culverts and ditchesKeep roadside ditches and the pipe under your driveway moving in neighborhoods without curbs.
Nearby areas
Yard still under water a day after the storm?
Call and a local drainage contractor will help you work out where the water should be going instead.