On Tuesday morning, six days after Hurricane Ian hit southwest Florida, Alvaro “Mo” Zuluaga and his team of mold restoration workers drove through their home in Naples. The walls were cheerfully painted in sunny yellows and palm greens, and besides a suspicious musty odor, there was little sign that the entire house had sat in a foot-long flood just a few days earlier.
However, upon closer inspection, the baseboard was swollen. Also had a visible mold patch on one of his shoes.
“If we don’t act soon, mold will cover everything,” he said.
Zuluaga has worked as a mold repairman in South Florida for 20 years and has seen so many homes where people didn’t act. , spread through the pipes.
The remediators put away their wet clothes and gray linen sofas and got down to business. By the end of the day, they had knocked down all the baseboards, pulled up the hardwood floors, and from the ground he cut four feet of drywall.
Mold may be one of the most devastating long-term and hidden costs of America’s increasingly humid, rainy, and stormy climate.
And while it’s difficult to assess the extent of the U.S. mold problem, there is consensus that climate change and more intense heat, rainfall and flooding—three key factors in mold development—are increasing the risk. . Although there is relatively little publicly available data on mold incidence, there is solid scientific data that mold poses serious health risks by inhaling airborne spores.
Recognizing the growing danger, the Federal Emergency Management Agency last year expanded disaster assistance assistance to cover mold growth. We have already paid $142.9 million to 95,000 households.
The problem is even more complicated for flood victims. Only four states and the District of Columbia require mold remediation licenses and professional training. (Florida is one of them.) Florida and New York also prohibit mold remediators from inspecting and then cleaning the same property to prevent conflicts of interest. But in most states, there are few regulatory guarantees for property owners seeking help quickly.
Aftermath of Hurricane Ian
In Florida, hurricanes are a daily occurrence. So Zuluaga and his team began preparations in May, months before it was known that one of the most powerful storms in recent U.S. history would destroy much of the state. Did. They have set up portable generators and fuel to power an extensive collection of dehumidifiers and fans to dry damp homes during power outages.
In the first 24 hours after Ian attacked, he received 140 calls. A homeowner in Naples called “sitting on a bed surrounded by flood waters,” Zuluaga said. “It was non-stop.”
Immediate action is critical in mold repair. The moment the water recedes or the rain stops, the clock starts running. It only takes 24 hours for the mold to take root. At 72 hours, it’s too late. All untreated, saturated porous or semi-porous surfaces, such as beds and kitchen cabinets, must be removed.
Like many Florida residents, Zuaraga has seen many hurricanes. Hurricane Hugo was a Category 5 storm that hit several Caribbean islands before making landfall in Charleston, South Carolina in 1989, ultimately costing $11 billion ($24 billion in today’s currency). The most damaging hour of any hurricane to hit the United States.
At the time, Zuluaga was a high school student in Puerto Rico. He and his family had no electricity or running water for three weeks. “I’m lucky to have experienced it,” he said. “It gives me perspective.”
Every home, even the cleanest home, has fungal or mold spores. They cling to walls or float in the air. It’s the moisture that distinguishes a healthy home from a tear worth repairing, allowing spores to feed and grow out of control.
There is solid scientific evidence linking mold to respiratory ailments such as wheezing, sore throats and exacerbations of asthma. The people most likely to have problems are children, asthmatics, or people who have been exposed to high levels of mold for a long time and can become sensitized to the spores.
Whether there is a relationship between mold exposure and neurological damage is an open question in academic research. ‘ said Karen Dannemiller, an associate professor at Ohio State University who studies indoor air quality.
Her study found that spores growing in humid conditions can trigger more immune responses.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, climate change is contributing to an increase in the intensity and extent of wet weather events, as well as increased humidity, exposing more people to conditions that bring moisture to buildings. After Hurricane Katrina, CDC inspectors found that nearly half of the homes they inspected had visible mold growth. Mold is also the number one subject of inquiries to the agency’s National Center for Environmental Health.
In a hot and humid area like Florida, mold can grow all the time, even without a hurricane. If you go in and the power goes out and the air conditioner stops, “there’s a formula that creates a lot of mold,” he said. Doug Hoffman is Executive Director of the National Conservator and Mold Inspector Organization, a non-profit trade association.
After Hurricane Andrew, Florida adopted some of the country’s stricter building codes, including windows that can withstand hurricane force winds. However, many buildings, especially older houses in certain areas, were not built with modern conditions in mind.
After passing through Florida, Hurricane Ian made landfall again near Charleston, South Carolina, where several violent storms have struck. Anastasia Zimmerman, an immunologist at the University of Charleston, has survived several disasters, including 2017’s Hurricane Irma. Due to her scientific background, she suspected mold.
When he hit the wall with a sledgehammer, he found mold growing from the floor to the attic. Ultimately, the house was condemned.
“Mold is a hidden tragedy,” she said. “It’s unacceptable for small children to inhale chemicals through tailpipes, but I let them sleep in bedrooms with toxic mold behind the walls.”
The problem can be exacerbated for low-income people and people of color. Studies have shown that they are more likely to live in poor quality housing and are more likely to be affected by mold. Landlords can be reluctant to contact them, says Dr. Danne Miller, who works with the Asthma Express program, a program that provides home visits for asthma patients.
Repairing mold can be expensive. And even if you have insurance, it may not help. Mold damage is usually not covered by standard homeowners insurance companies.
Even if you have an additional mold dedicated rider, the scope of compensation for mold damage may be limited. In Florida, the cap is $10,000 for him. And even with additional flood insurance, mold is usually not covered.(In Florida counties where a resident was told to evacuate, only 18.5% of his homes had flood insurance.) was doing.)
In a storm as intense as Ian’s, the Naples home represents a good case study. The damage to the home was quickly assessed and the team removed anything touched by the flood. In the next step, restorers disinfect the underlying structure and other surfaces, ready to rebuild the home.
However, in the worst-case casting scenario, if the property is neglected and mold has spread all over the walls, the house may have to be ripped down to the studs, so all that’s left is the frame.
On Tuesday afternoon, Zuluaga and his team toured the 160,000-square-foot furniture showroom and warehouse. The smell was overpowering. During a walkthrough, they discovered that some of the wooden tabletops and ceiling tiles were already showing visible signs of mold. Everything that climbs must be moved.
Zuluaga believed that Hurricane Ian’s work alone would tie up his team for the next three years. So no time was wasted. Shortly after completing the inspection, he and his team moved into another house.