Downpour launches car hulk

A downpour late in the afternoon Tuesday, Oct 8, in the Diamond area dropped enough water to launch a car hulk from a gully onto Shields Road.

Deputy Bryce Nebe, who responded to a report of a traffic hazard on Shields Road at 5:38 p.m., said he discovered the 1940s era sedan on the roadway.

Nebe estimated the extremely heavy downpour, along with hail, moved the car approximately the length of a football field.

Also found on the roadway were pieces of metal roofing, an oven door, fuel pump and one of the front fenders off the Chevrolet. They had been left in the gully with vintage farm equipment, possibly for decades.

The deluge also left rocks on the roadway and washed off much of the gravel. Shields Road intersects with Endicott Road north of Diamond. The car was located about two miles from the intersection.

A Whitman County road crew brought in a grader to clear the rocks from the roadway. The car was hauled to Colfax Auto Body in Colfax after Nebe was unable to determine the owner.