Garage floor drain backs up during heavy rain.

[trijohn]

Im in Buffalo NY, my small neighborhood, a Buffalo suburb called Williamsville, was built during late 1950's. I few of us have garage floor drains. The neighbors tell me there is a problem with the storm sewers in the area. I get up to 6" of water in the drain area when we get heavy rain. It takes a couple of hours to drain after the rain stops. My basement which is much lower than my garage has floor drains that never back up. That leads me to believe that the garage drain is tied to the storm sewer system and not the waste system. The drain has a cast iron grate which I removed . It seems to be about 5 feet deep with a couple feet of muck in the bottom, There is a ~ 4-5" pipe in the opening and I can see a horizontal connection about one foot below the top of the sump and the 4" pipe. I attached a picture.
I don't wash our cars in the garage and so have no use of the floor drain. I would like to plug up the garage drain so it can't back up. I spoke to a Town plumbing inspector who said I can plug it up. He suggested filling the sump with concrete. I plumber friend suggested putting a plug in the connection that goes out to the storm sewer. Do either of these solutions sound reasonable and doable? I'm thinking I like the idea of the plug better than filling with concrete. But I would have to break out the 4" pipe to get a plug into the line. What do you think I should do.

 

[Reach4]

I would consider a "test plug" into the bottom of the drain, in case you or the next owner wants to get that working again. If the problem really is the storm sewers in your neighborhood, they may get those working much better some day. I am not a plumber.