MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Climate change is intensifying disasters like flooding, fires and heavy wind. And around the country, groups are working to reunite survivors with their belongings. Blue Ridge Public Radio's Laura Hackett reports on a lost-and-found network in the North Carolina mountains.
(SOUNDBITE OF RIVER RUSHING)
LAURA HACKETT, BYLINE: On the shore of the North Toe River, Emily Gillikin picks through piles of debris left by Hurricane Helene. More than 20 months after the storm brought catastrophic flooding to the region, crews are still pulling random things out of the water.
EMILY GILLIKIN: So this is a Clorox bleach, or was. And then we've got milk carton. I believe this was some type of detergent.
HACKETT: Most of this is trash, but sometimes there's treasure to be found. On this day, Gillikin finds a handmade wooden sign with a carving of a cat napping on a pillow. It's embossed with the words The Hedricks.
GILLIKIN: I think it's someone's family, like, last-name plaque that they would put up there.
HACKETT: Gillikin brings the sign to a warehouse in nearby Weaverville, where it lands on the desk of Mandy Wallace. Wallace is the artifact recovery technician for MountainTrue, a local nonprofit leading cleanup efforts in the waterways.
You mentioned you're like Nancy Drew.
MANDY WALLACE: Yes. Oh, I totally feel like Nancy Drew.
HACKETT: Her work is inspired by volunteer networks in places like Texas, California and Arkansas.
WALLACE: So Burnsville Hub. And I just posted this yesterday. So this one, 31 likes, 11 comments.
HACKETT: Wallace recently posted a photo of the Hedricks family sign on a local Facebook group. She's checking out some leads at her computer.
WALLACE: So right now all of the Hedricks up in the Green Mountain area, Burnsville area, Relief area - they are sending out messages. Oh, you can see it. It's pretty fun.
HACKETT: The sign is one of more than 400 items that MountainTrue has retrieved as part of a state-funded initiative. Wallace has already returned more than a hundred of those items, including a Reba McEntire coffee mug and an album of baby photos. All the items still awaiting a reunion are stacked in her small office.
WALLACE: Like, it looks like maybe it could be a Goodwill or a thrift store.
HACKETT: There's a silk kimono, a unicycle, one bedazzled children's shoe and somehow a still-legible multi-page love letter.
WALLACE: Basically, I'm so sorry. I screwed up. I still love you. And that's somebody's soul that they poured out into that letter, and we're pulling it out of the river. But hopefully, I can get it back.
HACKETT: People don't always know what to do with the items. And she says seeing an old water-damaged belonging can feel bittersweet or even a little awkward.
WALLACE: But then it turns into stories. And it turns into, I remember when so-and-so gave me this. And most times it turns happy.
HACKETT: Wallace took me along for one reunion in the small river town of Marshall.
JOLEIGH BOWDEN: Oh my God.
WALLACE: Hi.
BOWDEN: So good to finally meet you.
WALLACE: Yeah.
HACKETT: That's JoLeigh Bowden, an indie music producer, here to pick up an album that Wallace found washed up on a beach.
BOWDEN: So this is our label, Moon Caravan.
WALLACE: Yeah.
BOWDEN: And we moved it here.
HACKETT: The whole studio washed away in the flood. This muddy album is one of the only things left.
BOWDEN: This is an amazing piece because it signifies so much.
HACKETT: You can still make out the record label on the album, which is how Wallace tracked Bowden down. Bowden says she's taking this moment as a sign to produce more music and as a reminder that, for all Helene has taken away, it has also given something back.
For NPR News, I'm Laura Hackett in Marshall, North Carolina.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GONNA RAIN AGAIN")
MILAGRO SAINTS: (Singing) Looks like it's going to rain again, rain again. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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