Whirlpool causes driver’s drowning on Kansas Turnpike

On behalf of Noland Law Firm, LLC posted in car accidents on Friday, July 17, 2015.

Driving around Kansas City, you recognize many of the risks you face for a motor vehicle accident. You know there are drunk drivers who threaten your safety. There are the ever-growing numbers of distracted drivers, glued to their cellphones, updating their Facebook pages and tweeting as they drive.

There are massive trucks, traveling across the interstate highways the move through Kansas City, I-70 carrying huge volumes of transcontinental traffic and I-35, one of the major north-south roads. Some of those truck drivers can be fatigued and run their trucks off the road or plow into stopped or slowed traffic due to construction or general congestion.

But there are some dangers you may not anticipate, that can be just as deadly. A man and his vehicle encountered deep water on the Kansas Turnpike, slid off the road and was sucked into a culvert by a whirlpool.

The flooding was caused by a sudden thunderstorm, which dropped almost dour inches of rain within a few hours. The man’s mustang hydroplaned after running into water that was six to ten inches deep. The car floated in the water in the ditch, and then was pulled down into a culvert by force of the water flow.

Sadly, flooding across the Kansas Turnpike has caused deaths previously, and six people died just two miles from where this tragic accident occurred in 2003. The CEO of the Turnpike indicted they would work to prevent this in the future.

It also serves as a grim reminder that when your are driving throughout Kansas this summer, beware heavy thunderstorms, slow down, and never drive into standing water.