The weather in much of eastern Australia has been extreme over the past few weeks. That's only one of the words I can find to describe it. In just the last 24 hours, five people have died as a result. That's in a country where people are not unused to floods.
This is May already. The wet season should be done. In any case, this is south of the tropics. Yet not long after incredible downpours and floods in the Hunter region in NSW, there've been such heavy rains over part of south eastern Queensland that it's taken the lives of five people - in three separate events of cars being washed away by floodwaters.
Please, people - take care out there. Weather can be extremely dangerous.
Yep. Archimedes principle describes how vehicles experience a buoyant force in flood water and can float in deep enough water if the door seals are good. Even with a total weight of up to 77 tonnes, it's still a calculated risk driving a two quad-axle, B-double truck into flood water. Which is probably why, in the Australian state of Queensland no less, it is illegal to drive into flood water flowing over a road.
Dear Australia. Don't drive into fast-moving flood water! And if you really, really have to do it - don't drive into fast-moving flood water! Seriously.
Railroad cars (!) and houses washed down a river in Chile during the floods at the end of March.