Cleaning up after a hurricane or other storm is exhausting but necessary. If you're doing it yourself, here are a few tips to make it a bit easier.

Hurricane Helene flooded properties and devastated buildings in recent days as it tore across a vast stretch from Florida to Tennessee. Over the coming days and weeks, households will start to rebuild -- and the costs will be enormous.

Dry the house out as soon as possible. Use a wet-dry vacuum or water pump to remove standing water, then fans and dehumidifiers to remove excess moisture. Fans should be placed to blow air out of the house, to prevent mold from spreading.

Hundreds of workers and thousands of volunteers working to search, rescue and clean up. But who is giving orders?

In disasters like these, the industrial damage can unfold over days, and residents may not hear about releases of toxic chemicals into the water or air until days or weeks later, if they find out at all.

Hurricane Helene inundated parts of Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas, and now the estimated billions in damage are bringing Americans’ receding flood-insurance coverage into focus.

Federal, state and local officials have warned that the death total will rise in East Tennessee from flooding caused by Hurricane Helene.