Flashflood

[imrealymad]

So last night I left work in a thunder storm. 2 blocks from the hospital I work in I was heading downhill into the park I go through on my way to and from work. Half a block before I was down the hill my bike felt like I hit a mud hole, before I knew what happened I was under 3 foot water. now this hill is probably around a 5% grade, not quite sure. the water at the intersection had to be at least 7-10 foot deep. So brand new 9c motor and 36v 15ah ping battery were completely under water. Before I left work I had wrapped the battery and wiring as best I could in a large waterproof plastic bio-hazard bag. Unfortunately my rear freewheel had been sheared off on Sunday and I couldn't even pedal home. So I walked back to work and tried to dry everything off.Amazingly my ping and the wiring inside the bag were pretty much completely dry. Now the motor would only spin for a tenth of a second and stop so I disconnected all of my wires and blew out all of the connectors. pressed the throttle and left a black mark on the floor. So I head home and make it 3/4th of the way home before my cycle analyst goes crazy and decides I need to do setup. Of course it wont actually let me do setup so I walk the rest of the way home. As of a couple hours ago everything seems to be working just fine. Long story short I basically road my e-bike into a river and it survived with no ill effects. So remember everyone even in areas where water has never been a problem you have to watch out for flash floods.

 

[dogman dan]

Holy cow! What an amazing story! The weather seems completely crazy to me this year.

 

[torker]

My folks south of Seattle are still running the furnace. Low forties in the mornings. Opposite here. It barely drops below 80 at night and 98 highs. Plus it is really humid here this year. phew

 

[TPA]

Rain water is muddy/dirty.

If the water got inside anything, you should open it and check it for dirt and film.

Also, residual water will cause rust.

 

[imrealymad]

Ya I am gonna check everything and clean it out. The really good news is I found out today one of my knuckles has 2 fractures in it. For those that think there is a difference, a fracture and a brake are the same thing. Fracture is just the technical word we have to use in a hospital.

 

[amberwolf]

Here in the desert, people forget it's really flat, and that we live in a valley that has a river flowing thru it (right thru the city, actually).

There are a number of places around that have signs to the effect of "do not enter when flooded" and "watch for flash floods", yet every year dozens of people drive, walk, and ride right into those areas during a rainstorm and do not have a clue why they are suddenly underwater.

The "canal parks" northwest of me are a good example. They exist within the basin of the overflow canal, so any time there is a heavy rain outside or inside the city, the resulting water flow goes in that canal, and floods the parks. There are still people that will go down there and use the park even during these times, despite the signs warning them not to do so.

There is also a wash a few miles north of me that a fairly major road used to go thru (it has a bridge now). It would result in multiple cars per rainy day or night stuck in there AT THE SAME TIME, up to their windows or even with just the roof sticking out, of some tall SUV thingy. They did not all get there at the same time. First one got stuck, then another attempted to drive thru anyway (often a SMALLER vehicle than the first one). Then a third would try, and a fourth. Each getting trapped in the wash and sometimes overturned by the flow.

One night I happened to be in the area when heavy rain hit, and stopped there trying to figure out a better route home that was still short. I flagged down a big truck that was about to go down there in the already-flooded wash, and told them they needed to turn around and go another way, as it was flooded and they would not make it thru. Naturally, they told me to "frock off", drove down into it, and began to float off the road, and sank, barely able to even get out. I tried not to laugh, I really did. I swear. I rode off to see if I could find an officer that could call someone for them to help them get out; one was actually on his way down there right then to blockade the wash because of the "unusual number of idiots" (as he put it) we'd had the last time a few days before. :lol:

 

[swbluto]

[youtube]02LO9EPtCz8[/youtube]

 

[dogman dan]

Always cracks me up when a passenger car tries to cross the water following a truck that barely made it. Duhh! We get the same thing here but have a few less streets that cross dry arroyos and more bridges here.

It's not funny of course, when people get hurt being so dumb. But when you see one car try when others are stuck, you just have to laugh at the dummy.

About once a summer, I have to call the wife, and say" go out for dinner honey, you ain't driving home till the water goes down." The freeway exit to our house was designed by an idiot. Sometimes she has to park halfway home, and I go get her in the truck with the 16 ' tires. No point in flooding out the focus. The water gets about a foot deep, so the truck can still make it. Cars could wash away though.