You guys know how I love my car, a red Mazda RX-8. Well, I think it's totaled.
This morning, the rain was coming down pretty hard, but no harder than usual in the last year that I've lived back here in the country.
I drive about 12 miles on back roads to work, and set off this morning at 7 A.M. The first few miles, I was going through some good-sized puddles, but nothing major. However, when I got about halfway to work, I crossed a little overpass bridge, and went right into some very deep water over the road. Before you tell me I was not too smart to have driven into the water, please know that I was not trying to 'make it though.' There simply was no indication that it was that deep. It looked like a perfectly normal-sized puddle, just like the others I'd driven through. I just didn't know it was that deep.
My car (being the good little car he is) didn't stall. The water was about 2 feet deep at that point, and the rain had started to come down more heavily. I called 911 and they said they'd send someone. Every few minutes, I kept trying to back out to the little bridge I'd just crossed. The water wasn't as deep there. After about 15 minutes I was able to back, inch by inch, onto the bridge. I couldn't back any further, because there was water on the other side of the bridge that wasn't quite as deep, but still too much for my low-riding car.
I saw the emergency vehicles arrive on the other side of the deep expanse of water. After a while, when I had finally decided that I was going to have to think about swimming once my car was under, an emergency truck finally started across the water. At that point, it was about four feet deep, and I thought surely the truck would stall or not be able to get to me. It took about 5 minutes for them to travel to me. Right when they got on the bridge, water started pouring into my car on the passenger side. The water on the bridge had increased to about one foot. I grabbed my purse and got in the emergency truck.
We then had to traverse back across the four-feet-deep lake of water they had just come through to get to dry road. The guy then took me on to work and called a towing service to go get my car. They had to wait until the waters receded and, by that time, the water had covered my car over the hood. Inside was about a foot of water. The mechanic there said it would probably be totaled because once water gets in the engine, even if they're able to 'fix' it now, there are always problems later...like with lights or the computer or how it runs, etc.
I am very happy to not be drowned, but I'm very sick about my car. I looked for that particular car for over a year before I found it. If you guys think about it, keep an eye out for an RX-8 that has the following description. I'm kind of picky about my cars, so it pretty much has to have all these things for me to want to buy it. Also, I'm in Kentucky, so wouldn't want to drive to say, Montana, to get it.
Mazda RX-8
2007-2011
Red exterior
Manual transmission (deal breaker)
Red/black leather interior
Sunroof
Fewer than 75,000 miles would be nice
Here's a picture someone took and posted on Facebook. You can see how deep the water is on the emergency truck. The water doesn't look that deep on the bridge, but it's deceptive. About two minutes after this pic was taken is when the water started pouring into my car.
If I can't get another RX-8, guess it's time for a Porsche!
This morning, the rain was coming down pretty hard, but no harder than usual in the last year that I've lived back here in the country.
I drive about 12 miles on back roads to work, and set off this morning at 7 A.M. The first few miles, I was going through some good-sized puddles, but nothing major. However, when I got about halfway to work, I crossed a little overpass bridge, and went right into some very deep water over the road. Before you tell me I was not too smart to have driven into the water, please know that I was not trying to 'make it though.' There simply was no indication that it was that deep. It looked like a perfectly normal-sized puddle, just like the others I'd driven through. I just didn't know it was that deep.
My car (being the good little car he is) didn't stall. The water was about 2 feet deep at that point, and the rain had started to come down more heavily. I called 911 and they said they'd send someone. Every few minutes, I kept trying to back out to the little bridge I'd just crossed. The water wasn't as deep there. After about 15 minutes I was able to back, inch by inch, onto the bridge. I couldn't back any further, because there was water on the other side of the bridge that wasn't quite as deep, but still too much for my low-riding car.
I saw the emergency vehicles arrive on the other side of the deep expanse of water. After a while, when I had finally decided that I was going to have to think about swimming once my car was under, an emergency truck finally started across the water. At that point, it was about four feet deep, and I thought surely the truck would stall or not be able to get to me. It took about 5 minutes for them to travel to me. Right when they got on the bridge, water started pouring into my car on the passenger side. The water on the bridge had increased to about one foot. I grabbed my purse and got in the emergency truck.
We then had to traverse back across the four-feet-deep lake of water they had just come through to get to dry road. The guy then took me on to work and called a towing service to go get my car. They had to wait until the waters receded and, by that time, the water had covered my car over the hood. Inside was about a foot of water. The mechanic there said it would probably be totaled because once water gets in the engine, even if they're able to 'fix' it now, there are always problems later...like with lights or the computer or how it runs, etc.
I am very happy to not be drowned, but I'm very sick about my car. I looked for that particular car for over a year before I found it. If you guys think about it, keep an eye out for an RX-8 that has the following description. I'm kind of picky about my cars, so it pretty much has to have all these things for me to want to buy it. Also, I'm in Kentucky, so wouldn't want to drive to say, Montana, to get it.
Mazda RX-8
2007-2011
Red exterior
Manual transmission (deal breaker)
Red/black leather interior
Sunroof
Fewer than 75,000 miles would be nice
Here's a picture someone took and posted on Facebook. You can see how deep the water is on the emergency truck. The water doesn't look that deep on the bridge, but it's deceptive. About two minutes after this pic was taken is when the water started pouring into my car.
If I can't get another RX-8, guess it's time for a Porsche!
