Video: Farmer Sends 2 Dirt-Filled Pickup Trucks Flying Into Flood Waters To Plug A Failed Levee And Save His Crops

A line of coastal storms paired with record snow melt coming down from the Sierra Nevada mountains are inundating towns & farmlands in California's Central Valley right now, and the river basins/massive network of irrigation canals are getting overrun. As levees fail (a 2011 study found that 1,800 miles of levees in the area are "high hazard" and in desperate need of repairs they've never gotten.. that seems not good!) farmers face losing everything, and this particular farmer decided to go full MacGuyver to save his orchard:

Stressful disaster aside, what a #DudesRock moment for these guys getting to send a big-ass truck full of dirt careening into a muddy flood torrent with a giant splash. For one brief moment all was forgotten as they got to whoop and holler at the massive splash & cheer with excitement as the truck settled where it was supposed to. Hell yes. 

Reading that this gent wouldn't be able to submit an insurance claim for those trucks, I wondered if it was truly worth it, but a farmer in the comments said this area has the best dirt in California with water rights selling for $40K/acre so, financially, "a few pickups is better than losing a crop to flooding".

In the end those trucks stopped the flow enough that they could fill the levee back in. Some quick, outside the box thinking saved the day. And the plums. 

 Most of the replies to the video were people sympathizing and saying, "You gotta do what you gotta do,", but several folks were also concerned about chemicals from the truck contaminating the water & crops. In this case, I'd say it's a no brainer that this farmer did what he had to and anyone sane would do the same. 

Hopefully this is a wake-up call to the local governments to get those levees fixed up, and if you happen to live in California - let this be a friendly reminder to ask for the Carfax before you buy a used truck.