Diy yard drainage

[ublinkd]

This is going to be a bit long so I can give details so strap in. Also if this isn't to correct place for this please let me know.

Problem: When it rains for a couple days straight my back yard turns into a swamp.

Ok so I live in a area of Hampton VA that is about 5 ft above sea level. When it rains for two days in a row my back yard turns into a swamp. My soil is obviously hydrated so I need to move the water away or let it absorb faster.

My thought for a fix is to dig ditches in the lower areas about 2ft deep x 2ft wide and fill them with gravel. My thought is that this would allow for an area the the water could collect and seep into faster than the soil. This would keep the water from pooling but keep it in the gravel to be absorbed by the soil once it drys out. Does this idea sound crazy? Do you think it will work? Any other suggestions?

I will attach a picture of my swamp later.

[cosmostrator]

Sounds like you are talking about doing a french drain.  Theoretically it should do exactly what you want.  You may want to make them deeper depending on what your static water level is.  If you actually have water 5 ft down I'm not sure that just a french drain would work.  You could also put a perforated pipe down the middle of your drain with a sump pump to actually move the water somewhere useful, like a pond of irrigation water tank.
If nothing else you could load it up into barrels and ship it out to California, we can use all the water we can get.
    -Cosmostrator

[NickJ]

Eventually the gravel will fill with sediment and become less effective. Is there any way to.move the excess water off the property?

[ublinkd]

Eventually the gravel will fill with sediment and become less effective. Is there any way to.move the excess water off the property?

Good point. There are ditches that the city has dug on property line for drainage. I could do a low point collection (sewer grate style) and sump pump the water to the ditch when it fills up. Or like  cosmostrator said I could pump it to a pond or holding tank.