if it's flooded... drive right through!

[sms001]

Quoth XCashier

Just Googled it,

lol, thanks X. I thought the phrase was just my friend in Scottsdale's cynical reference for it; never even occurred to me to look it up that way.

Quoth XCashier

I think it'd be a good idea to enact that across the nation!

I hear ya. And maybe for a few other situations as well. Hey! It's like a real life Stoopid Tax.

[KhirasHY]

There are a few highway underpasses that are notorious for flooding here...one year after we got a massive blizzard, someone drove their car into 3 FEET of standing water thinking they would make it through.

/facepalm

[KatherineB]

It's funny how people don't think of depth in the same way they do height. I remember doing a surf life-saving course when I was young and the life-saver was telling us about people going out in three-metre surf. Well, that didn't sound like very much, did it? Not until we stood next to the three-metre-tall wall and had to imagine that as a wall of water of our heads, waiting to crash down and drag us under. Then think about five-meter and seven-meter waves. Um, no thanks!

The question they should be asking themselves is - would they walk through it? No? Then don't drive through it! Cars aren't built with magic force-fields to protect them!

[wolfie]

Quoth KhirasHY

There are a few highway underpasses that are notorious for flooding here...one year after we got a massive blizzard, someone drove their car into 3 FEET of standing water thinking they would make it through.

What I'd like to see is someone in a Schwimwagen or an Amphicar (probably going to a get-together - not the sort of vehicle to use as a "daily driver") go through a flooded underpass without problems, and the guy behind them in an ordinary car try to follow.

[dalesys]

Quoth KhirasHY

... someone drove their car into 3 FEET of standing water...

Make it through on momentum?

Kiddies, there's a reason they used a ditch full of water to stop Stapp when they were trying to find out how many G's of deceleration it took to rip off a face.

[Chromatix]

FWIW, sand drags are used to ensure that deliberately-derailed trains come to a rapid halt without too much damage. These "trap points" are used to ensure that a runaway train from a high-risk zone doesn't run down a steep hill (where it might derail in an uncontrolled manner) or into oncoming traffic.

There are also strict rules about running on flooded track, with maximum depths measured in mere inches. These have several reasons behind them - one of which is that flooded ballast is much weaker at holding the track in place than normal, and another has to do with the fact that traction motors, carrying large amounts of electric power, are usually very close to rail level. In steam days, the problem was usually related to the air intakes for the firebox, which would extinguish the fire pretty quickly if they ran through water. Occasionally, hydraulic-transmission locomotives might be able to pass track that is quite deeply flooded, but that is not common.

Another major danger with flooded track is that the source of the flooding might wash away bridges or embankments - this is also a danger for roads, of course. When that happens, a line closure for major repairs is inevitable. In a famous case, the GWR responded to such a event by building a temporary bridge alongside the site of the original in a week flat - including waiting for the floodwaters to recede. They then proceeded to rebuild the original bridge at a more leisurely pace. And this was in wartime, when there was a chronic shortage of manpower and materials.