Amongst all of the chaos of 2020, many small towns in Mississippi were overtaken by a tropical storm named Cristobal. One majorly devastating outcome of the storm’s seemingly endless amount of rain was flooding, and the small town of Gulfport, Mississippi was not spared. While there haven’t been many reports of residents in danger due to the flooding, there was a massive amount of water damage to homes, businesses, and cars. When a car is flooded it is effectively totaled, and given one of the worst types of branded title possible. This was almost the case for one rare Mazda FD RX-7 – but an unsuspecting hero stepped in to save the day.

It started with a photo

A photo had been shared via social media that showed a rare FD RX-7 in a parking garage at the Golden Nugget Biloxi Hotel and Casino, and the image somehow made its way to one Austin Owens – the hero in this story. Mr. Owens is not the owner of this special car, nor did he know who the car belonged to, but one thing was clear: he had to do something.

Mr. Owens made it to the hotel parking garage before the flooding had overtaken the car, but he didn’t have much time to spare. He would have to think on his feet and came up with a plan to keep the car as far out of the water as possible.

On a quick trip through the flooded streets, Mr. Ownes loaded the back of his Bronco with a hydraulic floor jack and cinder blocks from the local Home Depot and set off on a rescue mission to save this unknown RX-7.

A turn of events

Upon arrival at the parking garage, the RX-7 wasn’t the only car in danger. Nearby sat a Ferrari 360 and a BMW 7-Series, but Mr.Owens only had time to save one. As he was preparing to raise the RX-7 off of the ground in hopes of giving it a few more feet of clearance, the owner of the RX-7 and the nearby Ferrari arrived.

With only room for one car, the owner of the Ferrari towed away his beloved 360, and while we haven’t received the news as to its condition we are hoping the car has made it somewhere safe.

The owner of the RX-7 has since been located via social media. He claims that he and his brother – the owner of the nearby Ferrari – had hoped that the parking garage would be a safe place to keep the cars during the storm. They had no idea as to how bad the flooding was going to get.

Additionally, the owner was grateful to Mr. Owens for saving his car from a watery grave, but Mr. Owens claimed he is no hero, just someone who saw a situation he could help with and decided to step up. The RX-7 did get a little wet in the process, but it was not submerged in the flood, all thanks to Austin Owens.