My Brown Eyed Girls: The Ditch

We are renting our house here in IL and have been really pleased with it overall, but there is one big problem in the backyard. We have a sort of ditch that runs along the back fence. The ditch keeps getting deeper every time it rains when the water runs through carving it out. The ditch itself really doesn't bother me that much; it's the water that remains standing in it for weeks that does. Poor Josh really struggles with it when trying to mow, and practically has to weed eat the whole back section. The problem of the ditch continues down the whole line of houses on the street. It's quite the sight when it rains and the water floods down the line like a river. I've heard a couple of explanations from the neighbors about why we have this problem. One person said the drainage pipes underground have come apart causing the problem, and another person said it's because our houses were built on an old mining ground and the area is settling. I have no idea, but it starts with us and seems to be the worst here, the first house on the block is unaffected. Take a look at the last hard rain...