A flood is bad enough when a private residence is involved, but when you own a dealership with a hefty lot of vehicles, such a natural disaster is the last thing you want to hear about.
Unfortunately, a Ford dealership in the proximity of a highway in Republic, Missouri, experienced just that over the weekend.
As those of you watching the weather across the country know, the storm affecting Missouri caused chaos, determining the state governor to declare a state of emergency. Almost 200 roads were shut down due to the heavy effects of the rain.
The dealership in question saw water rapidly accumulating in its front lot, with employees simply not having enough time to take the cars to the higher ground at the back of the building.
Jim Pettyjohn, the company's marketing director, explained the situation to Torque News, stating passing citizens did quite a lot to help the employees in their effort to save the cars.
"The rain started Saturday evening almost immediately. We saw water starting to accumulate within an hour between 6 and 7 PM. We have a low front in the lot and the photos surfacing online show that area. About 20-25 people who were driving by, stopped to help us move cars and as a result of that we were able to move 2/3 of cars to a safe place. The lot is much higher in the back of the dealership. By 7 it was worst and by 11 PM it was back down. In 3 hours it went from run of water to that kind of disastrous depths and then it was gone," Jim told the aforementioned source.
What are the consequences of the flood?
The water totaled 105 vehicles, with about a third of these being F-150 pickup trucks. Luckily, the building was not affected by the flood.
As for the destroyed cars, these will be covered by the dealership's insurance. Still, the video below is not for the faint-hearted.
In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist. Full profile
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