serious health problems, including liver damage and cancer.

[Guest guest]

Posted 9/21/2005 9:39 PM

Mold overtakes flooded city in a foul flourish

By Oren Dorell, and Tom Kenworthy, USA TODAY

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-09-21-mold-new-orleans_x.htm

NEW ORLEANS — A throng of visitors has invaded the French Quarter,

but they aren't tourists.

They're mold spores, and they're taking hold and growing furiously

everywhere. On antiques in shuttered shops. On the white tablecloths

of empty cafes and restaurants. On the walls and furnishings of

boutique hotels. On the green-spiked Cole Haan high heels and

alligator pumps in a Canal Street department store window.

At the Hotel Provincial on Rue Chartres, which advertises " the grace

and charm of old world elegance, " gray mold has invaded about 50

rooms. It is growing on the claw legs of anti-que tables and on the

gilt frames of mirrors and art prints.

" It's starting in the rooms that weren't even damaged now, " said

Boswell, owner of Stella restaurant across the courtyard from

the hotel, as he led a tour.

More than three weeks after Hurricane Katrina flooded much of this

city, residents and business owners face another insidious calamity.

Hot, humid New Orleans has become a giant mold factory.

" Mold is literally growing all over the city right now, " said Carl

Clayton, a New Orleans developer.

'No way to stop it'

Even homes spared from high water are at risk after three weeks with

no air conditioning, Clayton said. And the longer residents are

barred from returning, the more their homes will decay.

" Some of these houses are going to have black mold growing up the

walls and over the ceiling, and there's no way to stop it, " he

said. " It will eat up the drywall and destroy it. ... At some point,

even the houses that could be saved will have to be torn down. "

If residents and business owners in the Big Easy haven't learned

already, they will find that getting rid of the furry stuff eating

away at their wallboard and furnishings is labor-intensive, costly

and sometimes a health threat.

" It's going to be a huge problem, " said King, a technical

adviser to the Association of Specialists in Cleaning and

Restoration, a land-based trade group for restoration

contractors.

" Mold spores are everywhere, " said Claudette Reichel, a professor

and housing specialist at Louisiana State University's

AgCenter. " They are nature's recyclers. They break down materials

like trees and plants and organic matter. "

Dave , co-founder of K2 Environmental, a California company

that specializes in repairing flood and mold damage, said houses

with serious mold problems essentially must be stripped down to the

framing. Wallboard, linoleum and insulation must be disposed of,

along with furnishings such as rugs, drapes and bedding — almost

everything that got wet or even damp.

Once a badly damaged house is stripped to the studs and other

framing materials, the wood must be sanded and then disinfected with

a bleach solution to kill remaining spores. Then the house must be

thoroughly dried with fans or de-humidifiers. " It's basically

rebuilding the house from the inside, " said.

Some efforts will fall short. Anu Dixit, an assistant professor at

the Saint Louis University School of Public Health, studied molds

after Missouri River flooding. She found that mold returns in about

one-third of affected houses, even after treatments.

" People with allergies and asthma should not be involved in cleanup,

and anyone whose immune system is compromised, " Reichel warned. Some

molds produce toxins that can cause serious health problems,

including liver damage and cancer.

In New Orleans' Carrollton neighborhood, mold has climbed to

shoulder height in the house where brothers Karry and Felton Crowley

grew up. The mold has formed felt-like blooms on clothing, furniture

and nearly everything else up to 5 feet off the floor.

" Anytime you have sewage back up into your house and then sitting

there for days, you got bacteria and mold growing all in there, "

said Karry Crowley, 48, who works in the engineering department for

the New Orleans Public Library.

Tearing out

Henry St. Amank, who owns Saint Construction in nearby Metairie,

cleaned out a lawyer's office in the Mid-City area, where the water

left a mark 2 feet up the inside walls. St. Amank started four days

ago, but the mold had already traveled to 4 feet high.

St. Amank and his crew ripped out the carpet, baseboards, doors and

trim and marked the lower 4 feet of drywall for removal. They will

soak the exposed framing with a mold-killing solution and allow it

to dry before completing the repairs, which will take six weeks and

cost about $25,000.

At American Fashions Mens Wear, contractor Hocutt of Decatur

Holdings positioned a 4-foot fan in the doorway and hauled out

display cases and trash bags filled with soggy, mildewed

merchandise. " I've been remodeling houses for 20 years, and this is

the worst I've ever seen, " he said.

Contributing: and Dorell reported from New Orleans; Kenworthy

from Denver