2000 Dodge Durango Water and Steering Problems?

Today I went mudding/offroading and went through some puddles as well. Not very deep and there were many bumps and ruts and whatnot. After offroading for a while and going through puddles i noticed a lot of steam coming from the hood and the acceleration was horrible. I stopped the truck and turned it off to let it sit. When i started it back up i noticed that it was making a weird noise as i pressed the gas pedal. It also was much noisier and a little bumpier than usual. I could barely hit 15 mph. Can someone please tell me what happened and how i can prevent this? Also do i need a snorkel or something to go through even small puddles? I decided to drive it home and the entire car would just stop and the check engine light came on. I turned it off and turned it back on a few times and eased on the gas to get it going again. After a while and having to stop with the front end in traffic and wave motorists on it finally stopped turning off on me. I drove down the road for a while and the noise finally quit also. I could reach the speeds i needed to and the truck seemed fine. The truck drives how it started off now but i did notice the steering is a little loose and i can turn the steering wheel left and right a little more than usual, almost like it has a little more “play” to it. Can someone please explain how these problems happened, how I can avoid them, and if i need to buy anything to make the truck more suited for offroading? I know this is a long one so thank you for your time reading this, and please help!!!!!!!

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