AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Hurricane Helene killed more than 200 people and left billions of dollars in damages. It unleashed floods that washed out entire towns and disrupted power and fresh drinking water for thousands of people. Now that survivors are returning to their properties, they're also finding that some of their most personal possessions are gone or destroyed. Little mementos like photo albums or their children's report cards that might seem insignificant have a lot of meaning for the people who own them. Danielle Neely (ph), a resident of Giles County in Western Virginia, temporarily relocated to a campground.
DANIELLE NEELY: I've totally lost everything. Every - just about everybody down here did. My clothes, pictures. I mean, stuff that can't be replaced.
RASCOE: Her son's fiancée, Malaya Casaberry (ph), also relocated to the campground. She has three kids.
MALAYA CASABERRY: Oh, yeah, my daughter lost all her toys, all her toys. We actually went on a cruise at the beginning of August and got them all Build-A-Bears made, and they were all on our porch. So they're all gone, and it broke her heart.
RASCOE: And in Hampton, Tenn., one of our reporters talked to Lucy Rivera (ph). The house she rents was totally flooded, and she lost just about everything but was still looking for one very important item.
LUCY RIVERA: There is only one thing that I am really worried about the most - and downstairs. And right now, it's covered in mud. And that's my dad's ashes. And I definitely want to find my dad's ashes.
RASCOE: So what can we do if we're faced with such an event? How do we prepare before and after a storm of this magnitude to make sure that our most prized possessions stay safe? Jennifer Waxman is the head of collection management at Tulane University Special Collections, and she tells us we can begin by where we leave them.
JENNIFER WAXMAN: Some things you can do include storing your material away from windows or outer walls or areas that you know are prone to leaks, so storing them in your house in a safer place from the outset. Another option would be to raise things off the ground. We use tools (ph) to raise them, give advice about 1 to 3 feet, and now I think the best advice is about 6 feet off the ground. So your valuables - you know, you can box them in something that's sort of - that's secure, waterproof. You can do this also with important documents, things that you haven't digitized and put in the cloud.
RASCOE: And obviously, not every storm gives people advance notice. So what would you advise people should do first if they are faced with an incoming disaster, storm, that gives them very little time?
WAXMAN: Well, at that point, I would think the most important thing is for your safety and your family's safety. So take care of yourself, begin that process. Then, at that time, it's important to make sure that you're OK, and it's going to be overwhelming and stressful. So if you had been preparing prior, then you're good, and you have free space in your brain to think through how to take care of yourself and your family. That would be my focus, you know, if impact was imminent.
RASCOE: Yeah. At some point, there's nothing you can do. But what about after the storm hits? Is there anything they can do at that point to restore or to try to, you know, save those sorts of items?
WAXMAN: Absolutely. Yeah. If you are able to reach your house and you find items that are meaningful to you - and if you have access to clean water, there are ways to clean material from the mud and the debris in floodwaters. There's a lot of precautions you should take when you get to that spot. Floodwaters contain a lot of contaminants and sewerage, and there's a lot of other things that come out of houses, such as, like, asbestos and lead-based paint from - you know, if it has been - it was an older structure. So you want to be careful. Wear your personal protective equipment, such as gloves, a apron. Keep yourself clean. And then you can rinse material off and air dry it and keep the air circulation flowing to prevent mold growth. So there's some basic steps for sure.
RASCOE: Jennifer Waxman, head of collection management at Tulane University Special Collections. Thank you so much for being with us.
WAXMAN: Thank you, Ayesha. It's been a pleasure.
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