title         = 'June-July 2006 Flood, Broome County, NY';
intro         = '<b>Album: LP Album Salvage</b><br><br><br>THE FLOOD<br><br>The flood that ruined our belongings occurred in the evening of Wednesday, June 28th, 2006. It was reported that no flood in recorded history had hit several of these neighborhoods. The intensity of the flooding from the rivers was unlike the cyclical annual, ten year and centenary floods expected on the floodplains. All northeastern states experienced unusual flooding.<br><br>TOXIC CONDITIONS<br><br>We were located just downstream from the sewage treatment plant, beside the coal plant and near several chemical sources. The water and everything it touched was toxic. It ate through plastics and fabrics. Disease and insects soon followed. The stench was unbearable at times.<br><br>These dangerous conditions led many to abandon everything rather than risk illness digging out, sorting through and cleaning everything. This was all we owned in the world, including items of family significance, so Katyana laboriously tended to even the tiniest details through fever, cuts and bruises, sun blisters and terribly unsanitary conditions.<br><br>THANKS<br><br>We are indebted to the Red Cross for their Disaster Clean-Up Kit, to Anheuser-Busch for emergency drinking water, to All-Around for supplying a hose to fill buckets and for removing tons of debris, to Leslie and fellow renters for info, and most importantly, to our dear friends. Thank you, Alexandra, for the loan for airfare and rental vehicles. Thank you, Delinda, for your invaluable assistance in awful conditions with record album recovery, laundry and furniture removal. Thank you, Andrea, Snake, Bella and Niko, for a safe sanctuary, laughter and taxi service. Thank you, Eileen and Tom, for a second home away from home and sanity in the storm. Thank you all so much. We are the poorest financially that either of us has ever been, but we have a wealth in friendship.<br><br>OUTLOOK<br><br>When all is said and done we are very fortunate. Our house was not washed down the river. We did not lose our family, pets, business, vehicles, crops or livelihoods. We both lost thousands of dollars, most of our belongings and priceless family keepsakes, but we are safe and sound, sharing a sunny Tucson home. We are grateful to have had time with people we love in New York and St. Louis, despite the sad occasion. We survived our 9/11 losses in New York City, and we will recover from our New York flood. We will make new happy memories.<br><br>';
footer        = 'LP Album Salvage';
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majorCaption  = new Array( 'On average, 130 records per box   x   42 boxes   =    about 5460 LP records. Not all were damaged. Several boxes were not water damaged and suffered only mold.', 'Stacks were four boxes high to prevent damages due to weight. Boxes were placed on fir strips and pallets to protect them from moisture. Bottom two layers of every stack were submerged. Third layer not completely submerged. Fourth layer absorbed water from bottom and suffered mold damage.', 'Every box had printed serial numbers on top left corners of two sides. Flood waters removed numbers from labels.', 'Initial efforts involved cleaning records with alcohol dilution.', 'Records were then set on this delaminated mahogany drop-leaf to dry. Method too time consuming and abandoned after less than 100 records were cleaned.', 'In an attempt to at least save the recordings themselves, records were stripped of polymer bags, jackets, sleeves and inserts. The packaging was destroyed. D, pictured here,  and K hauled it all off to the heap.', 'LPs were placed in scavenged Styrofoam coolers shown here by poor volunteer D. Then they were bagged and packed into clean 20 gallon plastic totes. The totes were in ample supply. They held the sewage and chemical laced water thereby destroying all contents. Hundreds were abandoned.', 'Roughly two dozen especially beloved albums that had been submersed were packed wet with their contaminated packages for later salvage attempts.', 'Yeah.', 'These spared LPs would always have evidence of the flooding.', 'Beyond the obvious water damage, there were slime films, active mold growth, silt and mud.', 'Several would have to be sacrificed.', 'Because they smelled of sewage and were still septic. the records were stored outdoors on arrival at offsite location.', 'Stations were set up for initial rinsing and drying of the records.', 'They were then placed in racks.', '[Just looking at those medieval contraptions against the grooves makes me flinch! -k.]', 'Due to warping in extreme summer temperatures, the stations were moved under primitive cover.', 'The few who were packed with packaging were placed in a diluted alcohol rinse. Jackets and, when not already destroyed, sleeves were then hung to air-dry.', 'Some inserts were dried in the sun.', 'The records were pulled from the rinse and dried in racks, as were all other albums.', 'The desert sun should kill most of the nasties. Despite the alcohol, these jackets and sleeves still smell fecal and moldy. This ends the initial cleaning, allowing the LPs to be stored until real cleaning. At which time, all nude LPs will get new sleeves and jackets.' );
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