corrente

If you're running for your life, remembering to grab the deed to your house is rightly way down the priority list. And, it was said, the official government documents were stored in a basement and feared lost. Much dark suspicion has been rumbling about these matters. A bit of good news, which needs more publicity:

(via the entirely Pulitzer-worthy Times-Pickayune:)

Most of the property records in the basement of Orleans Parish Civil District Court are salvageable from flood waters and may be ready to use within the next few weeks, Custodian of Notorial Records Stephen Bruno said Monday.

Stored in the courthouse basement, which took on nearly a foot of water during Hurricane Katrina, moisture was the biggest enemy to property records. Abstractors -- those who conduct the title searches that must take place before a real estate transaction closes -- should have access to them within the next few weeks, Bruno said.

The records include titles, mortgages, conveyances, liens, wills and other documents.

Munters, the Swedish records restoration company hired to preserve the nearly 12 million pages of titles, liens, mortgages and other records, is putting the documents in freeze containers to dry out, Bruno said.

This is only the records for Orleans Parish, but that is the heart of the old lowtown. And Munters is one of the best in the business, so somebody there is on the ball. Yes, the best thing to do with papers which have gotten wet is to freeze them.