by Ken Walker
Massive Flooding Snarls Commutes this Morning
August 8, 2007
After this morning’s thunderstorms, many of the city’s roadways were flooded due to the city’s aging infrastructure. Getting out of the Ironbound this morning required driving the wrong way on a one way street, with flashers on, as it seemed that almost all of the westbound streets were flooded up to 18 inches.
Cars of daring — if foolhardy — commuters were marooned in a lake that formed under the Broad Street overpass on Route 21 South, the city’s main artery to Routes 78, 1&9, and the Newark Liberty Airport. If you’re heading that way, you’ll want to consider alternate routes. Jogging two blocks east to Broad Street got me past the major flooding and onto the highway.
The Honda vehicile will probably stand up to future floodings, as one Newark resident was able to start his car and park it, though the inside was filled up with water to the bottom of the window. His good fortune had more to do with design specs than sheer luck. A car’s engine is fitted with a pump or vacuum like device that serves to keep the engine cool and activates as soon as the engine is cut on. The positioning of his Honda’s pump/vacuum was significant according to his mechanic. Unlike most American built cars, the pump/vacuum is positioned low on the engine and would have sucked in much of the water and cause the engine to stall if they immediately turned on the car. However, unlike those American made vehicle, the Honda’s pump was located a lot higher on the engine, and though he turned his engine on immediately after the flooding had occured, he was later able to easily turn on his car’s engine and drive to his mechanic while most other car owners could not.
Yet, one car according to this particular Newark resident stood up even better to the tenacious flooding. That was the Audi which he said seemed to be “air tight” as he notice a particular vehicle which was completely free of water on the inside while he was up to his steering wheel in it.
Though the Honda was able to cut on, the computer chip was not saved, however, it’s still not a total loss.
A.S., that’s too funny. I actually stalled out a Honda Accord (‘88) driving through a Newark flood puddle at the Wilson Ave exit of Route 78 — which is notorious for flooding. It took a few minutes, but the car was able to start up again. After it sputtered a bit, it was good to go.
I just love our two-year-old Mazda 3 too much to put it through something like that. Nor would I be willing to risk water damage on the interior of the car. The smell is near impossible to get rid of.