Levee Plugged By Brave Silverado

Chevy to the Levee, But No Dry Water

When faced with a crisis, it can be necessary to adopt an unconventional approach. This was proved to be the case in San Joaquin Valley, California when Tulare Lake overflowed. Incredibly, these farmers found a creative solution to the emergency: they formed a levee using their own pickup trucks! The extraordinary event was happily shared on Twitter by Cannon Michael, who posted footage of the miraculous structure (see below).

In a recent Twitter thread, evidence was provided regarding the improvised flood prevention technique employed by certain farmers. The clip in question had been passed along from one of Michael’s friends who had heard it from their own source. It displayed a group of people attempting to block water from entering their orchard; the plan entailed loading dirt into the bed of pickups and driving the vehicles into the gap in the levee. When reviewing the footage, one could clearly see a blue Chevrolet Silverado being driven in, with an already-submerged Ford F-150 nearby.

Subsequently, the cultivators employed soil to blanket the residual of the aperture. Judging from the velocity of the water footage, should they have chosen to hurl earth directly into the cranny, much of it likely would have been swept away. The pickups fashioned a stout platform to which the extra earth adhered.

Michael shared pictures of the consequences and the farmers set about reconstructing the embankment. There was a considerable amount of mud in the orchard, yet thankfully it wasn’t entirely inundated. As the water went down they intend to excavate the pick-ups.

Whenever the vehicles are pulled to safety, we’d really love to watch a clip of someone attempting to ignite them anew. Having been totally submerged in sludge, it is not probable that the motor will fire up again. Yet, stranger outcomes have occurred.

Michael tweeted that this might not be the most precise method of settling this issue. Yet, they were confronted with a sudden influx of water to the premises and had to rapidly find a fix.

The Public Policy Institute of California, a think tank, has reported that the melting snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains is flowing into the San Joaquin River and Tulare Lake basins. This year, certain conditions have been observed that may lead to flooding in a larger area than normal. The institute has warned that this could result in “major disruptions to the farm economy in the region.”

Source: Cannon Michael via Twitter