Groaning sound in steering

[dark steed]

Back story: I let my son borrow my car and he parked near a storm drain. You guessed it, it stormed and the drain clogged up.
It got deep enough to get a couple of inches of water in the passenger floor pan. He vacuumed it out and had it shampooed and that is fine.
Now a few days later this noise started when turning right or left at parking lot speed, usually when parking or maneuvering the car at low speeds or sitting still.
Can water get in the steering rack? I am out of town again and he is checking on getting the steering system flushed and refilled ($120 and 4 quarts?!)
126k miles and it has never made this noise before submersion.
Any ideas?

 

[eighty6gt]

Absolutely water can get in there. Cheap fix is getting it flushed and refilled, expensive fix is new rack/manual rack. I'd pay the 120, otherwise you are taking off lines down below, adding oil, moving rack, repeat, repeat, repeat to get all of the water out. I assume the shops have fill and vac equipment for this job.

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

I am out of town again and he is checking on getting the steering system flushed and refilled ($120 and 4 quarts?!)
126k miles and it has never made this noise before submersion.
Any ideas?

That's a sensible plan. Water has almost certainly got inside the steering rack and you won't want to leave it there for long.