6/26/04 REPORTS: CO, KS

[Tony Laubach]

No major chase, but strong storms rolled through about an hour and a half ago causing some pretty significant street flooding in the Southwest Denver area. I shot some video of cars stalled (and stalling) out in the flooded road on Chatfield Ave in Southwest Denver. This is a PRIME example of why you DO NOT DRIVE THROUGH FLOODED ROADS!! I taped a guy in his rental car (thank God) try and make it.. he didn't. He may make the Weather Channel! :lol:

Fun stuff again in Denver.. and I am soaking wet still! Going ot grab some food and dry off! Looks like we should be done for a while. Nothing major looking off to the west.

 

[Doug_Kiesling]

This is a PRIME example of why you DO NOT DRIVE THROUGH FLOODED ROADS!! I taped a guy in his rental car (thank God) try and make it.. he didn't. He may make the Weather Channel! :lol:

Yo Tony, He did make TWC looking like a fool with the cops behind him as he was half hanging in and out of his car...

Thanks Bro!

 

[Susan Strom]

I don't know if Denver has one of these but Arizona has a law affectionately known as the "Stupid Motorist's Law". Drivers who cross barricades or take a chance by trying to make it through a flash flood will have to foot the bill out-of-pocket for their own rescue!

A handful of people though still try it every year, risk their lives and get a car swallowed up not to mention the embarrassment on TV.

The pressure of fast moving water would be formidable enough on it's own, but moving floodwaters are also full of hidden brush, debris, engine-clogging silt and even large logs. It's effectively like placing a car in a Cuisinart.

The upside is that the abrasive flash floods are highly effective at carving the beautiful slot canyons which draw tourists and photographers to the West.

From a safe vantage point, it is also a spectacular sight to see and hear it happen...an arroyo fully involved in a flash flood!

 

[Susan Strom]

Oh yeah, there's another type of debris too that can be lurking in flash floodwaters...pieces of barbed-wire ranch fence :shock: