You don't need to drive in deep water. A really good down poor will be enough to suck water into the filter. By eliminating the extra turns the water has to take, you gave it an easier path to the filter. I was in a heavy enough rain storm a few years back (stock setup) that caused mine to do this. The Jeep actually hesitated because it sucked enough rain in. Think about your shop vac, now imagine you had a 4.7L shop vac LOL I use to find mud drops on my filters (stock setup) from splashing threw small puddles.