BATON ROUGE - A car wash worker's efforts to get a fallen American flag in out of Tuesday's stormy weather in Baton Rouge became an instant sensation on social media.

Law office Babcock Partners posted photos Tuesday evening of a woman working at Benny's Car Wash on Essen when the storm knocked down the business's flag pole. The woman ran outside in the gusting wind and driving rain to unhook the flag, bring it in inside, and fold it away.

"I saw it just laying there on the ground," said Benny's Manager Jena Domingues. "I ran outside, picked it up and let it drip a little bit. It was soaking wet, drenched."

As of 9 p.m. Thursday, the pictures were shared more than 182,000 times on Facebook, with many people calling the woman a hero for her quick reaction during the storm, which also knocked down power lines and trees across the Baton Rouge area.

"I'm really impressed that everyone recognized the significant, I guess, move it was and that it wasn't just picking up a piece of fabric off the ground," said Domingues.

Domingues says normally, the flag would be taken down at the first sight of rain but there wasn't much time. When the flag fell she said she knew what she had to do because of what the flag stands for.

"It means freedom, it's the reason I'm able to have this job," said Domingues.

The Essen store has already purchased a new flag pole and an even bigger American flag. The flag that fell Tuesday, will be retired.