Having lived and worked driving Toyota Landcruisers down red dirt roads to very remote outback communities that experienced regular 'wet seasons' and frequent cyclones, I can confirm that Janie's advice above is totally appropriate. Sad to hear it was the 'voice of experience' speaking!

The Toyota car experiment findings reported by Sandra above only serves to highlight the need for extreme caution and referencing Jim's joke 'local' knowledge about water flows can only be a guide and cant always be relied on. The bottom line is: 'if in doubt, don't".

Cheers,

Andrez