One of the other posts on Car Articles that is repeatedly popular is the article on flooding. What isn’t covered completely though is just how quickly flooding can happen. Most of the time when people think of flooding, they think of consistent rainfall over a period of days. Perhaps even light rainfall over that time that builds up. However, torrential rainfall over a period of hours can have just the same effect.
Recently, I had the latter experience. I was in a large northern urban city which had bus lanes, clearways etc and is actually reasonably modern. This did not stop four roads being closed after only two hours of rainfall, with numerous vehicles coming to an abrupt halt after attempting to drive through water that was higher than the wheels.
Once again, I can only reiterate the need to listen to local radio and watch carefully for any signs of danger if rain starts to fall very heavily. Pay particular attention to vulnerable road users such as motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians crossing the road – none of which may expect the water to be so deep.
Lastly, hitting water that goes up above the wheels can be extremely dangerous. Don’t hit it at speed, it’s almost like hitting a physical barrier and it won’t do your car any favours. It could also mean you end up in a spin, a crash or being pulled directly into the kerb.
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