lack of drainage

[tonytheprof]

I think the basic argument is that if the gutters were not blocked, rainwater from guttering would go down into the under-road drainage system directly, but if they are blocked, they go to the roads and add another burden to the already over- burdened road drains.

That seems to make sense to me, provided that water was not flowing up out of drain covers - which indicates excessive volume, too large for the drainage tunnels. This can happen, on June 30th, sometime in the 1980s, I remember a cloudburst when I was in St Aubin's. Driving up St Aubin's hill (I had to go through the Trafalgar because of the flood water), the force of water and the volume had pushed drainhole grids up in the lower sections of St Aubin's hill, and water was [ushing up out of them.

[man in the street]

well done prof. you are not struggling with the difference between drains and drainage

[tonytheprof]

Why don't we have proper storm drains, though?

"When rainfall is heavy, the streets, parking lots, and other flat areas of a town can flood. In addition to the water falling directly on these surfaces, gutters also discharge large amounts of water into the street. The flooding can pose a hazard, which is why storm strains are installed. The storm drains are frequently located on either side of a street, at a low point in the roadway where water would naturally collect. Typically, a large grate covers the storm drain, which takes the form of a giant pipe."

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-storm-drains.htm

And on a related note, did the underpass flood? No one's said anything about that.

[man in the street]

in places, in town, drain grates seem to be nowhere near the puddle that is forming , even in moderate rain, pedestrians are getting soaked by the water thrown onto the pavement by cars.