How to Save Your Photos After a Flood

While a hurricane may not damage your photos stored in the cloud, they can certainly take a toll on many memories stored the analog way: in printed photos and family albums. Many in the path of Hurricane Harvey are returning to find their memories destroyed by the rain, winds, and water. For some though, there’s still hope to recover some of their printed photos that may be amongst their damaged belongings, and there are a few steps that people can take to help their chances of saving precious moments that were damaged by the storm.

FEMA and the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works recommends that paying attention to photos that don’t have negatives is the most important task to start with; once the photos start to mold or get stuck together, they’re likely goners. If the photos are wet, they can be rinsed and put into a plastic bag and frozen to air dry later.

Of course, many of the affected areas are without power, and so if that’s the case, placing them face up on a clean surface can help, and fans can help speed the process.

Since Harvey, many on Reddit, some non-profit organizations, and others have offered their services to restore damaged photographs for free.

While it’s not going to bring back leveled houses, at least it’s in some small way that victims of flooding can reclaim some of their memories.

If you have a lot of printed photographs around the house, it’s never a bad time to scan them into your computer and store them in more than one location, in addition to the cloud.

[via Reddit]