Rant: my rain barrel overflowed and dumped 55 gallons into the neighbor's flower bed

Finley Henderson · 2026-10-18T22:50:04.108833+00:00

So I built this rain barrel setup back in April. Two 55 gallon barrels chained together off the downspout on my garage, all gravity fed, real proud of it. Hooked up a soaker hose to the garden and figured I was set for summer. What I did not think about was the overflow. We got 2 inches of rain in about 40 minutes here in Roanoke on Thursday and the second barrel filled up, then the whole thing backed up and shot water over the top like a geyser. It ran straight down the slope into my neighbor Dale's flower bed. He was out there at 7am Friday in his bathrobe staring at his flooded marigolds. Dale is cool about it but I felt like an idiot. The fix should be simple, a diverter or a little overflow hose angled back toward my yard, but I keep putting it off because I want to do it right and not just duct tape a hose on there. Anybody got a setup that actually handles a heavy rain without turning into Old Faithful? I am leaning toward a Y fitting on the first barrel so the excess goes back down the downspout, but I am not sure that works with the height I have got.

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Rant: my rain barrel overflowed and dumped 55 gallons into the neighbor's flower bed | Backyard Diy - SMM Buzz