Just stuff to consider, and share with your kids. Drove from Pittsburg to Phila yesterday in some of the worst weather I ever drove in. Not discussing the turnpike and limited visibility, but once off the highway. The heavy rain and tornados had moved through, I was beat, just wanted to get home. Figured the flooding would only get worse and took a shot. Luckily we had a suby, but I did several very stupid things, luckily without incident. The roads were flooded and blocked but limited police to shut down traffic. Crossed several running water sections with unknown depth. The old tank muddled through, I was VERY LUCKY. Finally we found roads that were open and got home. But once home I had time to think about my decisions and realized how stupid I was. Should have stayed in a hotel, had a nice dinner and a few scotches. Thought about what could have happened. Crossing an unknown depth of water, in the dark.
1. Car could have stalled, stranding us with no hope of getting rescued for hours.
2. Car could have been washed into the stream, with an even worse ending.
The whole time our phones were going off like mad with warnings and alerts. Very stressful and extremely stupid. I pride myself in being able to drive through anything and in 50 years of driving never got stuck. But this time I was just plain lucky.
Please consider this and discuss with your kids. Keep enough stuff to survive overnight in the car at all times and think about the consequences of a bad mistake before taking a risk like this.
I was out driving home from work in the same crap, same area. It was probably still dumb even though I know the roads and can therefore somewhat gauge the water depth. I didn't cross this one:
I don't recall where it happened, but the other day somebody drowned when they drove into a flooded street that hid a collapsed roadbed.
Yesterday was probaly the worst flooding I have seen in the past 10yr I have lived in SEPA.
That's definitely too deep and fast moving to risk crossing in a passenger vehicle.
A surprising percentage of newer cars have really low air intakes and will suck water in a lot less depth than pictured. Then you have bent rods and a flooded car.
Get-home-itis is a thing and we've all probably succumbed to it. I know I have. I'm glad that there were no negative consequence from your poor decisions.
In reply to APEowner :
That's killed countless pilots.
Even if you think you can gauge the depth of the water, you can't verify the integrity of the roadway. Who's to say that rapidly running water hasn't removed the blacktop and left a 6-foot channel across the road?
In reply to 1988RedT2 :
There were a number of places where the road WAS getting eroded away, that spot may have been one of them. I didn't take any pictures of the stuff I did cross, I was too busy trying to not drown the car.
Be careful driving around them too, they're sunk to the axles.
A few summers ago we had a period of heavy rains. Where I live is typical flatter midwest farm fields outside of town. So think Low elevation changes. There was area between fields where the water was over the road by maybe 6" and seemed pretty flat with no obvious flow on the surface. What could not be seen was the 2' diameter culvert that was under the road/submerged in the water. Long ago I've made it a habit to NOT drive through water of any depth so I went around. The next day the water had receded and it became apparent that the culvert had eroded away completely leaving a 3'wide ~4' deep ravine that was imperceptible in ~6" of rainwater. Had you driven accross it would of been a big deal.
Just adding more voices to the "DON'T drive through floodwaters" Chorus.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:
I was out driving home from work in the same crap, same area. It was probably still dumb even though I know the roads and can therefore somewhat gauge the water depth. I didn't cross this one:
That looks like something you don't want to cross unless you're live-streaming on YouTube and FB.
02Pilot
UltraDork
9/2/21 11:40 a.m.
I'm too tired to relate the full story at this point, but suffice it to say that I picked my parents at a precinct house in the Bronx at 0445 this morning, and we're going car shopping later. They're fine, but spent several hours in a partially floating car.
Growing up in Tulsa (has one of the best flood control systems for a reason) and now living in OKC, I can't believe people still do this. Yet, EVERY SINGLE TIME IT FLOODS, you see news crews pointing out people that have got their cars stuck and now force rescue personnel to risk thier lives to help save someone stupid.
It's 94 and sunny, but in 30 minutes we could have a pop up storm that drops a couple of inches of rain, hail and wind in less than 30 minutes causing flash flooding. Even in my current neighborhood, during a hard rain, it's not uncommon to see the neighborhood street next to my house up to the top of the curbs on both sides flowing downward.
BoxheadTim said:
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:
I was out driving home from work in the same crap, same area. It was probably still dumb even though I know the roads and can therefore somewhat gauge the water depth. I didn't cross this one:
That looks like something you don't want to cross unless you're live-streaming on YouTube and FB.
And/or in a rocket sled dressed like Evel Knievel.
Duke
MegaDork
9/2/21 4:04 p.m.
This is I-76 through the heart of Philly - not all that far from where DD#1 lives:
Duke
MegaDork
9/2/21 4:06 p.m.
Yes, there's a 6+ lane expressway that goes under that bridge:
Duke
MegaDork
9/2/21 4:08 p.m.
Normally looks like this:
I was reading the local news, and there were several reports of people dying from cars being swept away, including a CT State Trooper. We got about 6" of rain in a very short amount of time, and you can see some interesting paths the water took in our yard that it's never done in prior storms.
Several local roads were still under 2-3' of water today, so I was thankful that things were relatively uneventful at home.
