I had wondered this before but the current flash flooding brought it top of mind. What do guys do, if anything, for high water footwear? I can picture girls in the classic college girl rain boots, but do guys just wade through, wear flip flops, or . . .?
That would be a yes.
So the mom who over-thinks should just let this one ride then? ;
I would say that would be a wise course of action. Guys just muddle through, literally and figuratively.
I bought my son a pair of (rather expensive) Teva shoes meant for water and he tells me they are still in the box. In the next breathe he tells me he needs a new pair of sneakers as the ones he is currently wearing have been waterlogged and dryed far too many times.
Ha!
My son is going to the store today to buy another pair of tennis shoes. Girls have all kinds of footwear they enjoy wearing and boys just wear whatever is handy - mainly their tennis shoes. We started him off with a new pair of shoes and an old pair in the hopes he would wear the old pair during rainy days but I don’t think that worked all the time.
No male equivalent of rain boots has ever been invented that has been deemed acceptable. I strongly suspect the hassle factor (from the male point of view) of having a special set of footwear just for rain makes it unlikely that it ever will be.
We have no shortage of rain where we are - just not a lot of standing water - too many hills
XtraTuf boots. Professional fishermen wear them. My kids have them from summer jobs and wear them when needed in college. They have had many guys envy their boots.
So if we decide to banish him to an Alaskan processing boat for the summer he’ll be ready! 
I have a feeling that it will be the extra sneakers route.
I’m so glad we had this little chat. The kid has big, flat, wide feet and has found exactly one sneaker style that he loves. They run $90 at full price and I look for sales. I did a quick google and 6pm had a 12 for $36 in his color. BAM! Last pair with free shipping. Problem solved 
That is cool! My son also has a large, somewhat hard to find size and we looked for deals all the time. While I love Barfly’s suggestion, I think the warm climate and frequent wearing of shorts by the guys, especially during the rainy season, would make those boots impractical.
Saintkid2 spent a good 2 years of his life wearing shorts and rubber boots 3 seasons of the year - the 4th he wore shorts and bare feet. Of course that was 16 years ago and his style has changed. Now that I think about it though, our down the street neighbor who is actually from Alaska wears shorts and those boots when he works in the yard (which is whenever he isn’t at his 9-5 gig). It’s not the best look 
For anyone looking for a Saintkid approved flipper feet sneaker they are Quicksilver Griffin and he favors the red brick tones of which there are several variations. He has both regular leather and sued. Best shoes ever.
Is there some way to pipe the floodwater to California?
You joke, but I actually was thinking about that a couple days ago.
tretorn gunnar canvas. it’s a rubber rain boot but looks like a high top sneaker. my son has been wearing them all week. comfy and keeping him dry!
I talked to my D today and mentioned this thread. She said that while it is true that most guys will just ruin sneakers rather than wear overboots, a fair number did wear the rubber boots that zip up over the shoes. So apparently it isn’t the fashion faux pas for everyone that some of us thought it was, but for many it is. But at least they are not committing social suicide if they wear something like that. It came up because I was telling her about the unfortunate weather during Crawfest Saturday. It brought up some stories on her part of being caught in the rain in Audubon Park and having to splosh through gigantic puddles to get back. The pics I saw of Crawfest looked pretty muddy!
OK - those tretorns are cool looking. I ordered and shipped a pair of similarly styled look of high top boots to D for “mud season” and she brought them home again unworn. They are now mine and I wear them often. I don’t see the kid wearing zip over boots, but something like the tretorns could actually work.