Houston area car enthusiast had to think fast when flood waters kept rising


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When a Texas man heard his house was expected to get a foot of floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey, he knew exactly what to do to save his prized BMW's. Cody W. Crochet owns a BMW X5 and, more importantly, two E36 BMW M3s. He figured the taller X5 SUV would be ok in the relatively minor flooding expected in his area but was worried about his two M3s being doomed to a life of rust, nasty smells and strange electrical gremlins that would result from even a modest flooding.

His solution? Jack stands and a trailer. The problem? The flooding was even higher than expected. Crochet had to act fast.

"I woke up on Sunday morning at 4:45 a.m. to a decent amount of water outside. All cars were safe at that point. By 6:00 a.m., I knew the water was rising past the 1'-0" mark. So I went out to raise the car to the top of the jack stands," Crochet said via Jalopnik.

"As I was doing so, the water was rising faster and faster, about 5 inches every 30 minutes. I had to improvise and only thing I had were garden blocks. I immediately started grabbing garden blocks and put one set under each jack stand thinking this was enough. But as I would finish that, the water rose to the bottom of the tire. So I progressively added more an more as the water rose. By the time I was done I was working in above knee water using the last of my garden bricks to get the car to the max height you see."

It worked, if only just barely!

Unfortunately, the house got about a foot and a half of water. Crochet is fortunate it wasn't worse, but no amount of flooding can ever be considered minor. At least it seems his cars survived to give him some joy while he embarks on the long process of insurance claims (If he had flood insurance at all) and repairs to the house.

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