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HauntedButtCheeks t1_j42j4oo wrote

This is so sad. The mother, father, and son were stranded in their SUV which was filling with water and threatening to float away.

These were not stupid people who decided to do something risky, they had no other choice than to exit the unsafe vehicle.

The article says SUV was found later upside down filled with muddy water. They all 3 would have drowned.

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Bunnyhat t1_j42qzf8 wrote

Umm, how did the SUV get in the flooded water in the first place?

The choice was made when they drove into the flooded road. As far as I can tell it wasn't like they were just sitting in a car and the flood happened around them. They drove into the flooded road trying to get across instead of waiting where it wasn't flooding.

This is a tragedy, but it's just another example of why you don't drive on flooded roads.

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notunek t1_j42s845 wrote

KTLA news -

"The Doan family drove the same route Sunday to a truck stop on Highway 101, splashing through the waters without incident.

When Doan approached Monday in light rain, there were no road closures and she didn’t think it looked any different from the day before.

“But as soon as I hit the bottom, my car started to drift and I realized that it wasn’t the same,” she said. “It was completely different.”

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Bunnyhat t1_j42sf1j wrote

So they drove through a flooded road, made it, and decided to roll the dice a second time. Extremely sad and heartbreaking, but preventable.

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notunek t1_j42uznt wrote

It happens every year. The water on a flooded road may not look deep, but sometimes it's deep enough to stall and then wash away a very heavy car.

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TurnkeyLurker t1_j4ubcvr wrote

Water moving things:

"Six inches of water will reach the bottom of most passenger cars, causing loss of control and stalling.

Six inches of swiftly moving water can also knock a person off their feet.

12 inches of water will float many cars.

Two feet of swiftly moving water will sweep away larger vehicles such as pick-up trucks and SUVs."

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notunek t1_j4wlpnc wrote

Good point. Years ago we had a big flood in my city and a woman tried to cross the flooded stream which is usually dry carry her 2-year-old. She was going to the store to get cigarettes of all things. The water knocked her over and she couldn't hold onto her son. She made it to dry land, but her son was swept away. So sad and she lost her child for nothing except not realizing the power of flowing water.

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gnomewife t1_j44erfs wrote

The article I read said that they were used to driving over the road when the creek flooded. They made a habit of making poor choices and unfortunately, they're paying for it.

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HauntedButtCheeks t1_j42unl2 wrote

Oh my God, thats definitely their own fault then. But I still wonder why the hell would schools be open? I feel like that would encourage people into a false sense of security and make the school partially responsible by implying that it's safe enough to go out with your children.

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Soziele t1_j43tnru wrote

Flash floods. Dry in the morning so kids can go to school, but rapidly gets very very bad from the rainfall later in the day. The school should still have been closed in anticipation for the storms, but a lot of school districts drag their feet when it comes to closing for "potential" bad weather.

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HauntedButtCheeks t1_j42s6l8 wrote

I was under the impression these were flash floods which happen suddenly. I've been hearing about a lot of flash flooding and mudslides in Northern California recently.

They were on their way to drop the child off at school so I assumed that schools would have been closed if a flood was known about.

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