Vehicles flood and stall after rain downpour

WINNIPEG – Vehicles waded through feet of water Thursday evening, stranding some of them.

“I was coming down the road and had a little too much speed, slid into the beginning of the puddle and decided that instead of trying to back out I would try to go all the way through not knowing it was four feet deep,” said driver Chris Kirk-Fisher.

CAA received 90 service calls from 6-8 p.m. Thursday night, three times their normal call volume.

“Especially in the underpasses in Winnipeg they were completely flooded so we saw a lot of cars being stalled and that’s obvious because water and electricity don’t mix so cars will stall out,” said CAA spokesperson Angele Young.

“Some of those vehicles will be written off, once the water reaches the dashboard level a vehicle is written off,” said MPI spokesperson Brian Smiley.

But before it gets to that point there are some tips you can follow.

“If your vehicle has stalled out because you’ve been going through deep water do not attempt to restart it, that’s when the really expensive damage can occur,” said Michael Clark, host of The Road Trip on CJOB.

If you get stuck in high water you’ll also want to make sure it stays half way up your tire, drive slowly so water doesn’t flood the engine and stall it, and pump your breaks when you get out of the water to dry them off.

If you didn’t follow those tips MPI says not to worry.

“Manitoba Public Insurance doesn’t punish our customers for an unwise driving decision so coverage will apply,” says Smiley.

Smiley also says you will have to pay your deductible but probably won’t get any demerit points.

MPI has received roughly 40 claims by Friday afternoon but expect more claims to be opened.