Task Force Responds to Hurricane Isabel

As the storm headed for the U.S., Task Force staff mailed Flood/Hurricane Information Packets to 22 state and regional agencies and associations in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. A subsequent mailing reached 34 organizations in Virginia, D.C., Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey.

On September 15, the Task Force issued a “preparedness” news release, based partly on the Emergency Response and Salvage Wheel, which was posted on the Heritage Preservation Web site and forwarded by e-mail to our Heritage Preservation members, Task Force members and friends, and several list-servs.

After Isabel made landfall, a news media release with simple guidelines for rescuing family photographs and other heirlooms was distributed by fax and e-mail to media outlets in North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and D.C. Jane Long, the Task Force director, was invited to take part in a segment of The Kojo Nnamdi Show on National Public Radio. She was joined in the 25-minute segment on September 25 by Hilary Kaplan and Brenda Bernier, conservators with the National Archives and Records Administration, who fielded questions from listeners on photographs and family papers.

Task Force staff provided assistance to the National Park Service in the aftermath of Isabel, identifying East Coast freeze-drying facilities for damaged archival materials from Jamestown. The Task Force has also helped FEMA find historic preservation specialists for assignments in eastern North Carolina and southern Virginia.

Photo: This house in Buena Vista, Va., was destroyed from massive flooding caused by Hurricane Isabel. Photo by Melissa Ann Janssen/FEMA