HOW PHOTOS LOST IN AMERICAN DISASTERS FIND THEIR WAY HOME, WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM PEOPLE WHO CARE

Hollowed-out homes. Cars entombed by mud. Unpeopled roads. Belongings reduced to dirt and debris.

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It all took a toll on Taylor Schenker.

After Hurricane Helene last September, Schenker was upset by the deluge of images of Asheville, North Carolina. “This storm has taken so much,” she said, “and it’s so jarring to see the photos of the horrible devastation.” So less than a week after the storm, she set out to do something about the wide-scale loss.

While helping a friend search for belongings cast downriver, she stumbled on a handful of photos of strangers — mud-caked, curled up in tree branches and stuck under river rocks. The images captured family reunions, newborn babies, weddings, birthday parties, beloved pets and school portraits.

“These tiny photos had been through so much and miraculously had washed up and were in decent enough condition that you could see what they were,” said Schenker, 27. “It stuck with me.”

To reclaim the search phrase “photos from Helene,” she created an Instagram for “something positive, which is reuniting people with their memories.” She set up a post-office box, linked up with a volunteer search and rescue crew, and ultimately uncovered more than 500 photos — or what she calls “little needles in a haystack.”

When Schenker made her first match, she got chills.

Then, sitting in her car, she cried.

SOMETHING FRAGILE, RE-EMERGING FROM THE MUCK

We hold onto photos to keep memories alive — of people, places and moments that might otherwise fade. Or sometimes are ripped away abruptly.