This is the classic symptom of a slipping serpentine belt. It doesn't hurt if it gets wet. It slips when it becomes overloaded with water. That squishes out, as you observed, within a few seconds. It's important to point out that you will never lose the ability to steer the car. You're only losing the power assist, similar to if the engine had stalled. You simply have to use both hands to wrestle the steering wheel. Also, power steering assist becomes more necessary the slower the car goes. If you were to lose it at highway speed, you might not even notice. Turning into a parking stall is when you need it most.
What you can do is have your mechanic inspect underneath to see if a plastic splash shield is missing. If it is not, ask at the dealership if there was ever a service bulletin that involved adding a shield to prevent this. I'm aware of at least one model that had an extra shield available for vehicles that commonly were driven through deep snow.
Here's a link to an article that covers more information on serpentine belts:
https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-a-serpentine-belt-works
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Wednesday, October 31st, 2018 AT 6:34 PM