With the ravages of Hurricane Sandy now four months behind us, sources are estimating that some 250,000 cars were damaged – many of them brand new, factory fresh and just waiting for their buyers to give them a new home. It's sad - tear-jerking, even – but what are the automakers meant to do with the quarter-million vehicles rendered unsellable by what insurance assessors would technically call an Act of God? Chevrolet, for one, has found a good use for at least some of them.

Rescue workers need cars from which to practice saving people in the event of just such disasters as Sandy. So rather than crush the cars (or risk their getting out onto the market), Chevy is putting them to good use, donating about 300 of them to the Guardian Centers in Perry, Georgia. The massive 830-acre complex offers first responders (law enforcement, paramedics, firefighters) a place to practice procedures for natural disasters, terrorist attacks and other such emergencies. The vehicles will allow the first responders to practice rescuing people trapped in cars, putting out cars ablaze and the like.