Colombo Flooded Twice This Month — Drive Through That Water or Turn Back?

Colombo flooded twice this month — on Nov 6 and again on Nov 11 — with over 120mm of rain falling in under an hour and roads like Sangaraja Mawatha and Kettarama Junction disappearing under water. Drivers were stuck for hours, and some abandoned their vehicles where they stood. This isn't a one-off; it happens most rainy seasons, and every time there are cars pushing straight through water deep enough to reach the exhaust. One side says never do it: water pulled into the air intake can hydrolock an engine in seconds, and a 'quick push through' can turn into a multi-lakh repair bill that insurers can refuse if they decide you drove into standing water knowingly. The other side says that's easy to say from dry ground — in real Colombo traffic the flood often rises while you're already in it, turning back just means a worse jam behind you, and the real failure is decades of bad drainage, not driver judgement. If you've had engine damage from driving through flood water, what did the repair actually cost, and did your insurer pay out? Has anyone ever turned back and been glad they did? ගංවතුරු පාරක රිය පැදවීම අවදානමක්ද, නැත්නම් තියෙන එකම විකල්පයද?