It seems that if you live in Metro Manila, getting stuck in a gridlock due to floods is surely going to happen to you like Christmas. However, traffic is made much worse when drivers fail to conquer their fear of the unknown. I have seen people refuse to get their vehicles to pass through gutter deep floods. It may seem like a stupid idea to brave through flooded waters with your car, but it’s much more unreasonable to wait for it to subside if you’re vehicle can take it.
So to eliminate the unknown. I’ve decided to share a few tips on how to get through flooded water without putting to much risk on your prized possession.
1. Determine how deep the flood really is. Look for visual cues around the surroundings such as sidewalks, gutters, poles, or even people walking in the flood. Knowing the if the deepest part is waist deep, gutter deep, ankle deep, or higher is definitely the most important tip to remember. If this area is your travel route for 90% of the 365 days of the year, you’ll probably have no problems in getting this information.
2. Stand up and measure yourself against your cars, so you will at least have a visual of how far the flooded waters will go up against your vehicle. As a general rule, regular sedan cars can safely traverse knee deep floods, and high riding SUV and AUV can pass up to waist deep floods.
3. Know what type of flood it is. Because not all floods are created equal. Normal flash floods created by heavy rains on highway are definitely safer that floods caused by overflowed creeks or worse rivers. These type of floods have current and are better avoided than taken head on. They also bring debris and mud that could dislodge or damage your vehicles. But if ever you decide to still go through (which you should never do), ensure your car is going goes against the current of the water.
4. Now that you’ve gathered everything to know about the flood, its time to take an educated leap of faith and brave through the flood. Keep in mind that if you have a choice its better to follow behind another vehicle as he displaces water while moving forward, this is what i like to call the Voltes V effect. When following behind though, keep good distance of around one car length as your brakes aren’t as effective when wet, but keeping to far behind and you lose the benefit of the Voltes V effect. Make sure that you use the information that you have and use the shallowest part of the flood to cross.
5. Keep your engine revs a little higher than usual, this is to ensure that your engine keeps running. If your driving a manual tranny car keep it in low gears, but if you’re driving on auto transmission, you can just leave it in drive position and put in neutral when you need to stop so you can keep the engine revs higher. Additionally, turn-off A/C when crossing the flood as this creates additional stress to the engine, its probably cold any way so you don’t need it.
6. Hopefully, you’ve crossed the flood without drama. Now its time to check your mirrors and make sure no one is behind you when you do a break check. Most probably your brake pads are wet and wouldn’t have the same bite, so you must adjust your driving style accordingly (I know you want to get home, but be patient). When you get home, park the car in a flat plane as possible and don’t use your hand brakes yet. Put it in park, or put it in second gear, this will help so that your break pads won’t stick to your rotors that might cause additional damage.
Final note, I’m not forcing you to go through floods. All I want is to take away the fear of the unknown. Armed with the information you have, it is up to you if you want to cross the flood or not. Also, these tips are the guidelines that I have used throughout the years and they never failed me yet, but they are not actual guides from a true professional, so take them with a grain of salt. Important: If your insurance has an Act of God coverage and somehow they learn that you braved the floods, your insurance will deny your flood claim. If you have other tips and comments, do feel free to add. Miko Almario
