Flood and Impact proofing your collection

softparade

So the NOAA 2020 Atlantic Basin Hurricane Forecast came out today and fell in line with many of the private entities who forecast this stuff. On top of COVID-19 the outlook is for an above normal tropical season. Yay. Now this does not mean there will be above normal landfalls as all of what develops could stay out to sea but anybody who lives in hurricane / flooding prone areas have to wonder if their collection is safeguarded from the unthinkable. What do you do to safeguard your collection?

I keep nothing on the floor. Everything is elevated with the option of placing into strong watertight storage at a moments notice. These bins can take a pounding should some sort of impact happen. I've read horror stories after storms like Katrina, etc where people lost untold unopened or graded cards (Slabs are not watertight).

emar

Natural disasters decrease card population. As well as mail mishaps.
Ideally fire and water proof. I opted for the former since I'm not in a flood plain. And nothing of value stored in the basement.

softparade

@emar said:
Natural disasters decrease card population. As well as mail mishaps.
Ideally fire and water proof. I opted for the former since I'm not in a flood plain. And nothing of value stored in the basement.

Great point about the basement. I live in FL now where there are no basements. But I grew up with one and a troublsome sump pump! They can become aquariums in a extreme event.

kingnascar

There use to be a NASCAR collectibles store north of I-10 in Gulfport, MS on Hwy 49. I would travel down that way when I had a job there and stop in to say Hi and buy a car or two. I went down there about a year after Katrina. I went in and looked around and things looked really different. He had been restocking the store from the hurricane. I asked about how he fared though Katrina. He told me that there is a river there that backed up due to the storm surge and it backed up into his house. It swept away most everything in his house, including his NASCAR diecast collection. He said it was devastating to him and he was working hard to recover. He told me that later after the water receded, he found some of his cars near the river. The water was moving at such a velocity that it literally stripped the paint off the cars and all that was left was bare metal. This collector thought he was safe since a good part of the damage was south of I-10 and never thought something like that would happen. Always be on guard during threatening weather. Anything can happen.

Horse

@emar said:
Natural disasters decrease card population. As well as mail mishaps.
Ideally fire and water proof. I opted for the former since I'm not in a flood plain. And nothing of value stored in the basement.

‘Natural disasters decrease card population’

‘As well as mail mishaps’

What in the.....

countdouglas

There used to be something known as a "BALROG" that was famously known to decrease card population in all kinds of unique ways...

softparade

@kingnascar said:
There use to be a NASCAR collectibles store north of I-10 in Gulfport, MS on Hwy 49. I would travel down that way when I had a job there and stop in to say Hi and buy a car or two. I went down there about a year after Katrina. I went in and looked around and things looked really different. He had been restocking the store from the hurricane. I asked about how he fared though Katrina. He told me that there is a river there that backed up due to the storm surge and it backed up into his house. It swept away most everything in his house, including his NASCAR diecast collection. He said it was devastating to him and he was working hard to recover. He told me that later after the water receded, he found some of his cars near the river. The water was moving at such a velocity that it literally stripped the paint off the cars and all that was left was bare metal. This collector thought he was safe since a good part of the damage was south of I-10 and never thought something like that would happen. Always be on guard during threatening weather. Anything can happen.

This is exactly the type of scenario that prompted me to start this disco. I know there are many collectors who lost almost everything in Katrina. Or more recently Harvey. I bet the same thing happened to many during Andrew in 1992. We just don't hear about it because it's too God Damn depressing to think about or want to talk about

Thanks for that tidbit. The time is NOW to secure your collection if you are in a known hurricane OR flood zone and even if not. What about all the people in big tornado prone areas? Ughhh

Horse

@countdouglas said:
There used to be something known as a "BALROG" that was famously known to decrease card population in all kinds of unique ways...

Rumor has it that a Stone became a pseudo Mod and banished all cool and greatness posts from the site .

blurryface

Well if a flood did transpire might I suggest a snorkel & mas......oh. wait. never mind. i forgot.

softparade

@blurryface said:
Well if a flood did transpire might I suggest a snorkel & mas......oh. wait. never mind. i forgot.

C -

blurryface

softparade

@blurryface said:

D

blurryface

D for Dennis. Rocky Dennis.