Cleanup crews need to know if owners, insurance companies want flooded cars back
Mitchell County and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are seeking the owners of various damaged vehicles found in the course of flood cleanup.
The county has contracted with the Corps to clean up storm debris on river and creek banks. But now, after weeks of cleanup efforts, the Corps has a question: Who owns all the cars that washed away during Hurricane Helene (downgraded to a tropical storm after slowing down over land), and do they want them back?
“They’re recovering a number of automobiles in various states,” County Attorney Four Eggers said at a recent meeting of the Board of Commissioners. “It’s different than if you recover a refrigerator from the river. The odds of finding whose refrigerator that it is is probably very low.”
The commissioners voted to approve an ordinance to establish a process for contacting abandoned vehicle owners and finding out what to do with them.
“The Corps of Engineers has pulled out four or five vehicles,” County Manager Allen Cook said.
Cook said that the Corps will take pictures of vehicle license plates and send them to the sheriff’s office to find the relevant owners. The new ordinance puts the sheriff in charge of sending the owners a letter about their car, or otherwise designating someone to do so.
However, some of the vehicles lost in the flood are too damaged to be easily identified. These will be towed and an effort will be made to find the vehicles’ VIN numbers and contact the owners.
“A lot of times if someone has collision or comprehensive insurance, they will want to notify their insurance company to come inspect it so that they can get paid,” Eggers said.
Once an effort to identify and notify the owner has been made, vehicles valued at less than $800 can be treated as abandoned property and junked.