Facebook group reunites lost possessions with Hurricane Ian survivors

TAMPA, Fla. — A New Jersey woman created a Facebook page designed to reunite hurricane survivors with their lost possessions.

Shannon Pryor lived in New Jersey when Superstorm Sandy devastated coastal communities in New York and New Jersey.

In 2012, she created a Facebook page called “Hurricane Sandy’s Lost Treasures.” She said social media helped reunite nearly 500 people with their belongings.

“When Sandy hit, it hit directly in the area that I was living in, and I had a lot of friends and family that saw a lot of devastation,” Pryor said.

After Hurricane Ian hit Florida, she decided to make a similar page, “Hurricane Ian’s Lost Treasures.” The page has nearly 1,200 followers and another 1,000 “likes.”

“It’s very early on in the process since search and rescue were the first ones in the disaster area,” Pryor said. “The towns have just started opening up. In my experience, it takes a few weeks for people to start to make the connections as they are let back in the area, and cleanup groups start to form.”

Pryor said, the page has helped reunite about a dozen people with their lost items after Hurricane Ian. She said it takes time to make connections.

“Even if it’s small, you wouldn’t think that it means a lot to somebody. It could be the only thing that they have left,” Pryor said. “It could have been in their family for years or just have a lot of sentimental value to them.”

Pryor said it is rewarding to help reunite people with their belongings.

“It just made me feel good to be able to give people some hope when it honestly seems like there’s none,” Pryor said.

For more information on the group, click here.