The Virtues of a 4Runner

peter78

peter78

Super Moderator
Well, we had a REALLY big storm today. I drove to work and it was raining quite hard. The 2004 4Runner felt very secure, but I was really concerned. My wife called me and said, the storm is really bad and I should get home, so I left at 12:45 PM. I work 20 miles away and it was not raining at work. Well, the trip that should take 45 minutes took 3 hours. I hit huge sheets of water going over the road, some of it quite deep, LOTS of rain. The car handled perfectly. No hydroplanning. I was cut off 7 times because of flooding. I saw 4 cars stuck in the water on the road along with a ton of Fire trucks and lots of small boats saving people. Since I know all the back roads I was able to make it home, but I think I was lucky.

Members in Atlanta lets hear your stories.

Here are a few pictures of the Dam at Lake Acworth, which is usually quite tranquil. My wife took these pictures while she was in the 2001 4Runner. The Previa did not venture out today. This is quite a bad storm, quite a few people lost their lives.
 

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45 minutes for a 20 mile commute. I thought only CA had crappy traffic.

Glad you made it home ok and the 4Runner is serving you well. Bad weather (snowboarding) is why I chose the 4Runner.
 
Like a lot of folks around here, I am without running water but my basement is full of it! I ventured out a little today but I opted to take the Landcruiser just because it's so much bigger and heavier...I don't think it's rational, it just feels like a tank when you're driving it! The 4Runner got to stay home for once...I live in Douglas County, GA and on the news they said we received close to 20 inches of rain in the last 24 hours! 4 people were killed in their cars when they were swept away by the rising water...pretty crazy stuff! Lakes are popping up where you'd least expect it...time to seal that chassis and get some oars!
 
My longest drive home from work was 5 hrs. We go a lot of snow and the afternoon rush hour in Chicago. The commute usually took me about an hour or so.
 
I had a similar experience last year and I was sure glad to be in my 4Runner. I was driving on a mountain road early in the morning during a heavy downpour when all of a sudden a landslide started on the high side of the mountain. I could actually see it happening right in front of me, but I didn't realize how big it was at first. I thought it was just a few rocks rolling down on to the road.

Of course I stopped right away and then realized that it was more than rocks coming down the hill, but also lots of dirt, mud, silt, and even tree branches and limbs. I guess the heavy rain washed enough soil away to cause the rocks to start moving, and the rocks must have broken small trees and branches etc... Next thing I knew, the road looked more like a trail than a road.

I got out of my 4Runner and walked up the road a bit to get a better idea of how bad it was, since the road went around a bend and I could only see maybe 150 feet in front of me. It looked pretty bad further ahead so I considered turning back and driving down the mountain. When I got back to my 4Runner, a guy in a Nissan Altima pulled up behind me and told me that the road behind us was completely blocked by debris from the mountain. It seems the same thing happened on more than one part of this mountain. So I had no choice but go straight ahead through the mess in front of me. The guy in the Altima dialed 911 to let the local authorities know that we were stuck on the mountain, but they couldn't tell him when help would arrive. I told the guy that I thought my 4Runner could make it through without a problem and offered him a ride. At first he didn't want to leave his car there, but then again I guess he didn't want to be there alone in the storm. So he hopped into the 4Runner and off we went.

It turns out the road was completely washed out for at least 1/4 mile. I was able to drive around/through/over small rocks, tree limbs and areas of mud. We only had to get out twice to clear hanging branches out of the way. My passenger was so impressed with the 4Runner and the way it kept going through everything. He was actually having a good time and laughing about it. When we made it to clear pavement, I drove him into the next town and dropped him off so that he could get his car when the road was cleared. He thanked me and told me that he's buying a 4Runner when the lease is up on his Altima. I don't know if he was serious or not, but if he was, I want my commission from Toyota Motor Co. LOL
 
Sorry to read that people have died due to this system parked over your area. Sounds horrific. Glad your Runner and you are home safe...........seriously take good care.
 
Incredible, you guys get no rain in how long? And then you get all this in such a short period of time.
 
alaskaman said:
Sorry to read that people have died due to this system parked over your area. Sounds horrific. Glad your Runner and you are home safe...........seriously take good care.
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9 people have died in GA so far. I have never seen anything like this before and I have been in this area for 33 years. I would keep driving until I see a stalled car stuck in the road and realize that is not the way to go. It just rose so high, so quickly and at area that NEVER had a problem.

The water is now down on the roads that I drive, but I-285 is shut down at spots. I-285 is our beltway around Atlanta. Some creeks will rise more in the next few days. The good news is that it rained very little today.

A friend at work lost her home, a lot of people will lose their home, but most won't have flood insurance.

Note: It was nice to have the 4Runner on the road, but I feel this might be more off topic, so I am moving this to Off Topic.
 

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I looked at today's paper and the area that I drove through to get home had 20 inches of rain in the last week. When you get that much rain, there are bound to be problems. It was just a freak thing that no one can predict.
 
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