Drove through a puddle, steering froze up!

[steiner_ca at hotmail.com (Craig Steiner)]

I drove through a rather large puddle the other day, slowly of course, and 
suddenly my steering froze up.  By "froze up"  I mean that I was in a turn 
when it happened and had much difficulty turning the wheel back to continue 
straight ahead at the completion of the turn.  What would have caused this?  
The water wasn't too deep, maybe 2-3 inches.  As soon as I was out of the 
water, normal steering resumed.  No noises, flickering lights or other 
symptoms present.  Speed at the time was approx. 20 - 25 mph.

Craig
'88 Alpine White 16V