What to do if you slide on ice or hit a flooded low spot

Why the Twin Cities get both problems

This metro has a long, genuinely cold winter and a spring that produces fast, heavy rain. The winter is what most drivers plan for, but the freeze-thaw cycle also breaks the pavement, which is why pothole season runs from the first thaw through spring. In the spring the risk changes shape and becomes water, moving fast, in places that sit lower than the road around them, especially the river-road underpasses and low spots near the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers.

Where ice hits first

Ice does not arrive evenly. Bridges, ramps and overpasses lose heat from above and below, so the elevated segments of I-35W, I-94 and I-494, the MN-62 Crosstown flyovers, and every ramp at a major interchange glaze over while the ground-level road a block away still looks clear. The bridges over the Mississippi and the Minnesota River freeze early because cold air moves under them. Untreated residential side streets freeze next and stay frozen longest where they get little winter sun.

Low underpasses and river flats

The flood risk on a Twin Cities road is rarely the river itself overtopping. It is a low underpass or a stretch of river-flats road that sits below the ground on either side and fills during a heavy rain while the approach looks completely normal. Water in a dip is deeper than it appears from the driver's seat, because you cannot see the low point until you are in it, and a stalled car in a filling underpass is a genuinely dangerous place to sit. If the water is still rising, get yourself clear first and tell us that when you call.

Never restart a car that stalled in standing water

If your engine died while you were driving through water, do not turn the key again. An engine draws air in through the intake, and if the intake is sitting below the waterline, cranking the starter pulls water into a cylinder instead of air. Water does not compress the way an air-fuel mixture does, so when the piston comes up to compress it, something has to give, usually a bent connecting rod or a cracked engine block. That single extra crank is often the difference between a car that needs a tow and a car that needs a new engine.

Salvage assessment or a normal tow? What decides it

How high the water got is what matters, not how deep it looked from the driver's seat. If water reached the door sills, the floorboards or higher, treat this as a flood-damage assessment rather than a routine breakdown: get the vehicle to a shop or your insurer's preferred facility for inspection before anyone tries to start it, and let them check the engine, transmission fluid and electrical system before you spend a dollar on repairs. If the water only came up around the tires and the engine never took a breath of it, this is usually a normal stuck-vehicle recovery and tow. A vehicle that slid into a curb or guardrail on ice should get the same suspension and alignment check before it goes back on the road.

Snow emergencies are part of the winter picture

Both Minneapolis and St. Paul declare snow emergencies that ban parking on plowing routes so crews can clear the streets, and a car left on the wrong side gets ticketed and towed. Minneapolis runs a three-day plowing sequence: no parking on either side of Snow Emergency routes from 9 p.m. on Day 1, then the even-numbered side of non-route streets and the parkways from 8 a.m. on Day 2, then the odd-numbered side from 8 a.m. on Day 3. St. Paul runs a Night Plow phase from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. and a Day Plow phase from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sign up for alerts before the first storm: in Minneapolis text MPLSALERTS to 77295 or call 612-348-SNOW (7669); in St. Paul text "StPaul Snow" to 468311 or call 651-266-7569 (PLOW).

Why an ice- or flood-affected vehicle goes on a flatbed

A vehicle that slid on ice or sat in standing water, even briefly, may have compromised brakes, a soaked electrical harness, bent suspension or damage in places you cannot see from outside. Ask the assigned operator to quote a flatbed for ice or flood recovery rather than a wheel lift, so nothing drags, nothing spins, and nothing is asked of a drivetrain that might already be damaged.