Other tips:<\/strong><\/p>\n\u2022 Avoid driving in water that downed electrical or power lines have fallen in \u2014 electric current travels through water.
\n\u2022 If you decide to drive through the water, stay in the middle part of the road since it tends to be the highest point.
\n\u2022 Drive slowly, don\u2019t \u201cspeed through\u201d (the force could possibly create waves that can push water into the engine).
\n\u2022 As you drive slowly through standing water, use a low gear so the engine rev’s are higher; water in the exhaust could otherwise damage the catalytic convertor
\n\u2022 Look out for people driving towards you from the opposite direction; if larger cars come through quickly it could cause waves which can make it dangerous and more difficult for your car to get through.
\n\u2022 Go through an area one car at a time in one direction.
\n\u2022 If your car stalls as you\u2019re driving through the flooded area, don\u2019t try to open the hood.
\n\u2022 If your car stalls and if you can safely make it to higher ground on foot, leave the vehicle and do so.<\/p>\n
Taller cars with four-wheel drive may fare better than normal passenger cars, however, they still need to drive carefully and slowly. Even in areas where the water is shallow, if you go too fast, it can lead to hydroplaning (leading to loss of steering and control of the car). If you do experience hydroplaning, hold the steering wheel lightly and lift off the gas pedal until the tires regain grip. This is one of the common issues when driving through even a small amount of water, so don\u2019t speed.<\/p>\n
If you have comprehensive coverage on your car insurance policy and your car’s totaled by flood damage, your insurer will work with you on a settlement. But, the best thing you can do is just avoid driving through flooded areas in the first place.<\/p>\n
Have you ever been caught in a flood? Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Floods can occur anywhere and happen quickly or rise slowly \u2013 in areas with lots of rainfall and low roads. Flash floods are the number one weather-related killer in the United States \u2014 most flood fatalities happen because people attempt to drive through flooded areas. The first rule of driving in flooded areas is don\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6591,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[695],"tags":[188,269],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2822"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2822"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6592,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2822\/revisions\/6592"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}