Rainfall Leads To A Symphony Of Sump Pumps In Sioux Falls

When It Rains, It Pumps

Life on the Southeast Side of Sioux Falls

Wednesday's rain [July 23, 2025]  wasn’t just a little sprinkle — it was a full-on dump from the sky. According to our rain gauge near Harmodon Park, we got 4.10 inches in about 70 minutes. I don’t know what we did to deserve that kind of weather drama, but it felt like Mother Nature had a bone to pick.

Thankfully, our house stayed dry. But if you went for a walk around the neighborhood this morning, you got a real show — sump pump hoses stretched across yards like garden snakes, and the pumps themselves? Oh, they were performing. You’d hear one start spitting as you walked by, then another, then maybe even a third before you’d made it to the end of the block. It was like a neighborhood playlist, except instead of music, it was the whirr-thunk of hardworking pumps keeping basements dry.

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That got me thinking about an old story from when we used to live over on South Lowell. South Lowell isn't the highest point in Sioux Falls, like Point drive, but it's up there. Back then, we had a sump pump that wouldn’t quit. Rain or no rain, it was always humming along like it had a job review coming up.

One day, my neighbor Roger came over, all casual, and said,
Hey, you think maybe the reason your pump keeps running is ‘cause your hose is dumping the water right back next to your foundation?

Sure enough — he was right. The hose was just lying there in the rocks, like it was doing me a favor, but it had a connector on it that had come loose. I fixed the hose and rerouted it away from the house, patted myself on the back, and figured we were done.

But nope. Still running.

I asked Roger why it hadn’t stopped, and he hit me with this gem:
Well, there used to be a school here years ago, and maybe a well in your backyard. When the Big Sioux River’s high — like it is right now — all that water creates pressure underground. That hydraulic pressure pushes water up from below, and that’s why your pump won’t shut up, even when it hasn’t rained in days.

I guess it makes sense. In a Bill Nye Science Guy kind of way.

So, if you’re living up in the South Lowell area and wondering why your sump pump still sounds like it’s fighting for its life — even though the rain's long gone — that might be why. The river’s full, the ground’s soaked, and your pump’s just trying to keep up.

Me? I’ll be out on the sidewalk listening to the neighbors’ sump pumps fire off one by one. If I'm out for a walk with Penny, the Amazing GREAT Dane, she'll be happy to get a drink....every other driveway or so.

How about you? Did you get a bunch of rain? If you did, let me know and thanks for sharing this story with your friends and neighbors. Daddy, [me] needs new shoes.

merch