FIRE HAZARD

WATCH: Flooding From Hurricane Helene Sends Tesla Up in Flames

Public safety officials are warning that saltwater damage can cause electric vehicles to catch fire amid the hurricane’s fallout.

Counterintuitive, maybe, but the flooding caused by Hurricane Helene may actually pose a fire hazard for electric cars. That news comes after officials in coastal Pinellas County, Florida, released footage of a Tesla that burst into flames while parked inside a home’s garage, TMZ reports. The clip shows the white vehicle sitting in about half a foot of saltwater before its underside appears to spontaneously set alight, submerging the entire space in smoke within a matter of seconds. The blaze was almost certainly caused by the car’s inner workings reacting to the saltwater, public safety experts have said, advising people returning home in the storm’s aftermath to avoid driving electric vehicles unless they’ve been carefully towed to a dealership for inspection first. It’s yet another thing to worry about after Hurricane Helene, with the recorded death toll surpassing 110 and millions of homes still without power Monday after the storm carved a 500-mile long path of destruction across the Southeast.