[TheForge] Don't drive through a flood!

[Bruce .]

We're reading about people in TX driving through flooded streets and
drowning.  The problem, of course, is not the deep water per se, it's that
vehicle can float, and even if they don't they can be washed off a roadway
by a swift current.  It's  a really bad idea.

One never knows what motivated people to do such a thing -- possibly no
other choice at all.  But I recall a case in NJ where the option to go
around the long way MAY have been rejected:

Several years ago, before I carried a cell phone,  the summer rains were a
bit harder than usual and there was localized flooding in the NJ mountains
("hills" to you out West!).  I was heading down a valley road when I saw
that the little brook beside the road had overflowed its bank and the
roadway and bridge.  I'd planned to take that road over the mountain toward
home because the alternative route would be an extra 20 miles driving.


A family had stopped their van there too, and the man and his son were
wading along the road, so I stopped on the dry road and asked them how it
was.   He said it was "not too bad"  fast, but only 15" deep.  He clearly
intended to drive through it!  I pointed out 15" of water might FLOAT his
van, but he asserted it was a heavy vehicle and they'd be alright.


So, as I got into my car to drive the long way around, I told him that I
didn't want to stay there and watch their van wash downstream -- and feel
obligated to DO something to rescue them.  I drove off and never looked
back.  If saving the extra 20 miles was worth risking his family to him,
who was I to say him nay?  Besides, I had spoken QUITE loud enough for his
wife to hear my every word....


(FWIW, I never heard about any drownings, so maybe he made it or maybe he
turned back.  By now they'd have found the van full of drowned people had
he washed  downstream.)


Bruce
NJ