Has S40 sucked up flood water?

My son was driving his S40 (1.8 N reg) through some hefty flood water tonight, about 9 inches deep when it started to misfire and then conked out. Is it possible that he might have sucked water in through the air intake? I know that some Peugeots have a downward-facing intake which can cause the engine to destroy itself if water is sucked up, but don't know if this is the case with this particular engine type. Maybe it just got totally soaked and has temporarily cut out? What's the possibility of major engine damage? Any advice appreciated...

Not sure where the air intake is on a petrol S40, but if it has pulled in enough water to hyrdaulic the engine, you would have had MUCH more than a misfire and stop. Major water ingress = solid engine, HORRID noises, and sudden jarring stop as incompressible water and moving bits come into conflict. Your symptoms sound much more like water having got into the ignition system somewhere, and killed the spark. I'd try sticking the car in a nice warm garage, with a fan heater blowing into the engine overnight to dry it off, and see what you get then. If the engine was at running temperature when this happened, a lot of water will evaporate off with the residual engine heat as well.

water ingress 

remove the four clips on the air filter housing and inspect the air filter, if its dry the water has not taken that route, and therefore as alec says,the problem will be water getting into the electrics. on the down side, if your filter is wet, then you could have damaged the mass air meter, but i hope not. paul

Re. S40 sucked up water... 

Guys, many thanks. It sounds like that might be the problem that's occurred, as there wasn't a horrendous lock-up or horrible associated noise. I will make a phone call and put my son's mind at rest - we can then deal with the problem on a clear head in the morning! Many thanks again, Paul