The contents of our Hurricane Flooded Safe Deposit Box

[BOSSHOG]

Yesterday I finally got the opportunity to retrieve the contents of our safe deposit box flooded by Katrina in AUG/SEP. I had to go about 50 miles from its original location; the EPA had taken such boxes to an "undisclosed" location for decontamination. A whiff of mold greeted me as I opened the box in a small secure room (plastic bags, rags and gloves provided). Grandma's watch was waterlogged but a jeweler says he will do what he can do. Mold spores on our wedding certificate, rust on the car title and about 30K worth of savings bonds are now one big squishy ball of light cardboard. My original DD-214 doesn't look too bad but it would be rather tacky to attempt to use it. I believe my will and do not resuscitate orders would hold up in court. We've got five more months to figure out what to do with this stuff before the next hurricane season. I'm leaning towards a waterproof, fireproof lock box in the attic.

[Junkdrawer]

1. Can you get the government to honor the savings bonds?

As for what to do, I still think you're better off in a Bank - maybe just get a waterproof bag for your safe deposit box. :shrug:

[purduejake]

8. Yes...

The government will still pay you for those. I believe they track it by SSN.

[Cleita]

9. Yes, he can. When I worked in the trust department of a bank,

I was brought boxes of savings bonds that had been buried in the deceased's back yard. I was able to get remibursement for the certificates that still had the serial number on them, even if nothing was left. It took a lot of work and delicate handling but I was able to save 90% of the cache.

[KoKo]

2. Scary......

Do you have the numbers for your Savings Bonds written down in another place?

How did the EPA get ahold of yours and others Safety Deposit box. Was it from a flooded bank or did they come into your flooded house and remove them?

Thanks for posting this. It's a good reminder to all of us to try to keep copies of important papers in case the originals are destroyed and to try to find storage that will withstand the worst scenarios.

Sorry you had to go through that. :-(

[BOSSHOG]

4. We have the savings bonds numbers written down

and I have checked with the treasury, we are in good shape with them. The EPA rounded up all the effected safe deposit boxes in the area. When I went to the "recovery" center yesterday I was escorted by a guard start to finish, even back to my truck in the parking lot. The place was like a miniature version of the last scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark. I do appreciate the security measures taken by the bank. I would urge any and all to make an inventory of what is in your safe deposit box and have a copy of anything in the box if at all possible.

The paper products are airing out in the garage. There is a decided air of mold out there.

[shaniqua6392]

3. I am so sorry!

Some of us still remember all of our Gulf Coast fellow Americans every day in our thoughts and prayers. I wish we could do more than that though.

[BOSSHOG]

7. Thank you

Actually there was less destruction in the box then I had anticipated. I was surprised at how well printed material held up. Birth certificates, car titles etc are still very legible albeit crinkly. The bonds took it the worse I believe because they were all stuck together in the first place. We're hanging in there, thanks for the positive thoughts.

[CottonBear]

5. I was just wondering what had happened to the contents of the box.

Funny. You'd never think about a safe depost vault flooding. I hope you can cash in your bonds or somehow have them restored. Have you contacted a local university library or an art conservator about restoration and/or preservation of damaged documents? It might be worth a try.

edit: I am going to my safe deposit box this week and making copies of everything and putting the copies in my fireproof safebox. Thanks for the good suggestion.

[BOSSHOG]

10. The Safe Deposit Box was

the last thing on my mind after the hurricane. And then we were notified we would not have access to it because it was taken to an "undisclosed" location, that's kinda scary, but the bank done good; no thievery or destruction. I'm quite surprised at how well things came out. I was really dreading opening that box but except for the bonds things are in pretty good shape. About five years ago I decided to make an inventory because I didn't know what the heck was in the box; then I made copies of everything. Now we got to find a new home for our valuable papers. Twin span up and running, traffic horrendous through Metarie and Kenner; burn ban back on in St Tammany because of recent fires. I meandered down to the Quarter a couple of weeks ago. Kinda like the twilight zone in the daytime, mostly relief workers, little traffic, little life, public parking all taken by agencies but we are headed in the right direction.

P.S. - don't forget to kick ralph reed's ass daily. Warmest wishes to Georgia from Mississippi.

[CottonBear]

11. It sounds as if the situation is improving which is good news!

I have anti-Reed flyers ("Ralph Reed: Hypocrite: He was against gambling before he took gambling money.") which I put on cars with those fish symbols and Bush-Cheney stickers. ;)

If all goes as planned we hope to travel down to Lacombe in February. My sister-in-law is still sleeping on her couch because her master bedroom/bathroom roof and walls and carpet have not yet been repaired and replaced. The roof is half done. There was a lot of structural damage in the attic that they discovered when working on the roof. All the furniture from her master bedroom suite and three walk-in closets is in the other two bedrooms and the dining room. Hopefully, she'll be back in her own bed by the end of the month!

Greetings from Georgia! It is a warm day. It is almost spring-like!
I'm sure the cold, wet weather will return soon enough. We are enjoying the winter blooming camellias and Nandina berries and the beautiful bare tree branches!

Take care. CB

[MADem]

12. If you go for the safety deposit box route again, find a bank that is

built to withstand a cat V on high, high ground! Damn!

http://www.savingsbonds.gov/indiv/indiv.htm
I'm sure you have this link, but just in case...you shouldn't have any trouble getting the bonds reissued, especially if you got them through payroll savings. DFAS isn't always swift like greased lightning, but they'll get it done eventually.

[Lisa]

6. would it help if you put the squashy stuff in the freezer?

Until you can get some restoration help? A librarian friend has been talking with colleagues in the affected areas -- to arrest mold growth on books which are in a backlog before the restorers can get to them, they're freezing them. I wonder if this would work for other valuable documents.

Good luck with your Grandma's watch! The jeweler might be able to do quite a bit ... my grandfather's watch suffered saltwater damage, and the guy who fixed it said that some of the older mechanisms can actually be easier to save than some new ones (he ended up making some replacement parts from scratch, and it's in great shape now).

[funkybutt]

13. Good thinkin BOSS!

We didn't have a safe deposit box. We just had a little plastic file box sitting atop a cardboard box of photos. This, for the most part, was our hurricane "kit". Whenever we evacuate, it goes with us. We lost most of our other stuff. Thankfully our wall art was above the waterline. Many of our friends and family have commented on how "well prepared" they thought we were...although sometimes I just wondering if they're just saying that.

I like the waterproof, fireproof lock box idea. Maybe we can work something like that into our rebuilding plans.

:hi:

[RaleighNCDUer]

14. Silly me, I thought that fire/flood resistance was implicit in the

description of "safe deposit box". I hope you can recoup your losses.