CHARLESTON, S.C. – A woman in South Carolina is facing a unique citation from law enforcement – and viral social media fame – after her car was carried from its parking spot during flash flooding, only to end up illegally parked.
Ana Brooks, a resident of Charleston, said her car was carried away during severe flash flooding that occurred after two days of heavy rain a few weeks ago.
In a TikTok video that now has several million views, Brooks showed her car flooded up to her bumper with multiple parking tickets attached to the windshield.
“To the individual who gave me parking tickets, my car floated here,” she said on the video, clearly frustrated.
Tickets left on the windshield of Anna Brooks car after streets flooded in Charleston, S.C.
(Anna Brooks / @anna.brooks4 / FOX Weather)
“It was definitely a crazy experience,” Brooks told FOX Weather Thursday. “I kind of had to say, ‘Where’s my car?’ I found it. And then suddenly there were parking tickets, which were not great.”
Brooks recently moved to Charleston to attend medical school and found a side street to park on during class. But she told FOX Weather she later found parking was available on that street because it floods all the time.
Then the storms came – the area picked up around 11 inches of rain over the course of two days.
Brooks said her car only floated a short distance from its initial parking spot, but ended up in a tow-away zone, incurring the tickets.
“I think people think that my car literally was like a boat,” said Brooks. “It really only floated just a couple of feet, but by the time I got to my car, it was bobbing up and down,” Brooks explained.
Cars flooded in Charleston, S.C.
(Anna Brooks / @anna.brooks4 )
According to FEMA, it only takes about 12 inches of water to float a mid-sized vehicle.
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What’s worse, with the car flooded and totaled, Brooks said it needed to be picked up by her insurance. But after a few days’ delay, she says the city got to it first and impounded her car.
As for the tickets, Brooks said she ended up appealing the three total tickets and got two nullified.
