If you’re waiting for FedEx to deliver a parcel near Wellfleet, Massachusetts along Cape Cod, we might have some bad news for you. One of the company’s vans got caught in the tide while driving across the Lieutenant Island Bridge. The driver wasn’t hurt, but the van spent hours stuck in the water.
The incident happened on the morning of Saturday, March 1. The driver was headed back to the mainland after delivering parcels on Lieutenant Island when the rising tide caught him by surprise. This wasn’t one of those jaw-dropping extreme-weather phenomenons: The causeway floods twice a day, according to The Weather Channel, and the people who live on Lieutenant Island plan their day around the tide.
Post-apocalypse-like footage shot via news channel NBC 10 WJAR shows the white van with water up to the top of its wheel arches and the passenger-side sliding door open. There’s quite a bit of current; we’re guessing that a lighter vehicle might have gotten swept away by the tide.
Luckily, the driver waited for help to arrive instead of trying to swim to safety. Crews from the Wellfleet Fire Department sailed out to the van in a Zodiac-type boat at about 11:30 a.m. to rescue the driver, and everyone was safely back on the shore before noon. No injuries were reported.
FedEx was able to retrieve its van once the tide receded, though there’s no word on what shape it was in. Water and cars rarely mix; salt water and cars definitely don’t mix. Even if the engine bay wasn’t flooded and there’s no significant mechanical damage, soaking in the Atlantic for a few hours can wreak havoc on an underbody. FedEx told Boston.com that all of the undamaged packages have already been delivered. The company will reach out to customers whose parcels were damaged by the water, though we don’t know what percentage of the load was saved.
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