A Real Life Mystery

Last night, I was watching a live presentation from a flooded area along the Texas coast. The reporter was standing on a higher, safe place, out of the water, and reporting on the flood in this coastal town. The streets were swimming with water, impassable. One stalled car already half-floated near the curb. The water in the usually dry street was deep.

Then, the camera caught an oncoming, small SUV. He was barreling straight toward the flooded street. I watched, not believing what I was seeing. Didn’t he see the signs? What was wrong with the driver? Couldn’t he see the danger? I don’t know. He plowed on in, water splashing high around his car.

He kept going and going, the SUV trying valiantly. I was hoping that maybe he’d reach higher ground. The car slowed and slewed to the right as the water got deeper. At last, it stopped. The driver waited a few seconds, then got out, slammed the car door, and struggled, on foot, to the sidewalk. By that time, the front of the car was floating, water up to the windshield.

Who was the driver and why did he make the erroneous decision to try to outsmart a flood? Was he desperate to get across? Was he fleeing something? His decision must have been split second, but it was certainly the wrong one.

We who watched the scene probably felt incredulous at the seeming stupidity of the driver of that doomed SUV, but should we have felt superior? How many of us have made dumb decisions, perhaps spur of the moment decisions with disastrous results? It’s a sobering thought. Why did that wet, unknown driver do what he did? I’ll never know. It’s a real life, disturbing mystery.