New Orleans Braces For Mold, Fungi and Decay

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_New Orleans Braces For Mold, Fungi and Decay _

(http://www.imakenews.com/pureaircontrols/e_article000455855.cfm?x=b5CpT2j,b2HCN\

CwM#a455855)

by Corkery & Theo Francis, Staff Reporters of The Wall Street

Journal

When the water recedes in New Orleans, it will leave behind buildings and

roads that have been submerged for weeks and even months. The question facing

building owners, insurers and government officials is what can be salvaged

from the mess.

At least part of the answer lies about 1,500 miles to the north in Grand

Forks, N.D., which was hit by one of the worst floods in U.S. history eight

years ago when two rivers jumped their banks, causing $2 billion in damage.

Many houses in the city of 50,000 were submerged, and when the residents

returned after about a week, they found some homes had literally floated off

their foundations, says Korom, an associate professor at the University

of North Dakota in Grand Forks, who co-wrote a study on the flood in 2001.

But while the houses were soggy, many were structurally sound. Engineers say

wood tends to retain its strength, even after it's been soaking for a long

time. Other materials were less resilient. The flood waters soaked through

drywall and insulation and spawned mold. Residents spent months stripping

houses down to their studs and blasting them with bleach and water. " It smelled

really bad, " says Mr. Korom.

In New Orleans, the damage from Hurricane Katrina will be far more extensive

and costly; some buildings may be underwater for many weeks and, of course,

New Orleans is a vastly larger city. Total economic losses from the storm

are expected to surpass $100 billion.

Engineers say the standing water in New Orleans is not a grave threat to the

city's wooden houses, at least the newer ones. Most plywood used to

construct houses is made with water-resistant adhesives that retain strength

even

when wet, according to the Engineered Wood Association, based in Tacoma, Wash.

However, some plywood panels made before 1972 for interior use lack adhesives

that are fully water-resistant -- which could pose a problem for much of New

Orleans' older housing stock.

The Wood Association says decay can set in after the water recedes and fungi

start to breed. It is imperative to dry out a flooded house quickly, but

that could prove difficult in the heat and humidity of Louisiana.

Arthur Sterbcow, president of the Louisiana real-estate firm Latter & Blum

and C.J. Brown Realtors, describes the housing in New Orleans as a " gumbo " --

a mix of new brick houses, historic homes in the French Quarter, and the

" shotgun style " duplexes.

Much of the housing inhabited by poor and low-income people in parts of the

city's Ninth Ward, which were hit hard by the flood, was built in the 1940s

and 1950s and is considered substandard. In some of these areas, Mr. Sterbcow

predicts, " you will see a total rebuilding. "

In the city's central business district, the high-rise office towers may

have lost windows, but the flooding does not appear severe. As for the city's

roads and bridges, it will take months to clean all the silt and debris from

the surfaces, but engineers say the standing water is not likely to

structurally damage the asphalt or concrete, unless moving water caused

erosion.

However, large spans of a bridge over Lake Pontchartrain appear to have

sustained

heavy damage and it's likely that miles of electric lines and street lamps

will have to be repaired or replaced.

Even if much of the city's real estate can be salvaged or rebuilt, the

questions of how long it will take and how much it will cost could determine

what

a rebuilt New Orleans looks like.

" The central question to me is not the physical damage, " says Kelley Pace,

director of the Real Estate Research Institute at the E.J. Ourso College of

Business at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Mr. Pace says the big

unknown is whether businesses displaced from New Orleans and relocated to

Baton Rouge, Houston, Memphis and elsewhere will ever return.

Insurers typically don't require policyholders to rebuild in the same spot

or even to repair a damaged structure. So homeowners and commercial building

owners could take the payout from their policies, sell or abandon the damaged

property and relocate -- a real possibility in New Orleans given the

likelihood that at least some evacuees will begin to put down roots elsewhere.

Similarly, damaged buildings could be restored to their original condition,

assuming they were fully insured, or they could be replaced altogether.

Tourism -- which drove the New Orleans economy before the hurricane -- is

likely to drive its rebirth, according to Mr. Pace. The share of the city's

employment in the leisure and hospitality sector had increased to 13.4% in the

first quarter of this year from 10.5% in 1990, according to Property &

Portfolio Research.

Mr. Sterbcow says it's a good sign that the city's tourist areas appear

intact. " The French Quarter is here and alive and it's high and dry and still

gorgeous, " he says. But beyond that, it's unclear what will be worth the

expense to salvage.

One factor is insurance payouts. Widespread flooding and changes in the

insurance market in recent years mean home and business owners in the Gulf

Coast

could find themselves bearing more rebuilding costs from Hurricane Katrina

than they expect. Private-sector homeowner's insurance doesn't cover flooding,

and many commercial policies limit claims substantially. In Louisiana,

slightly under half of all flood-prone homes and businesses had federal flood

insurance as of June 30, and rates are much lower in Alabama, at 30%, and

Mississippi, at 22.8%, according to federal figures. (Other federal programs

offer

those without insurance funds for basic rebuilding.)

Those who did buy federal flood insurance could face an unpleasant surprise:

Its terms aren't as generous as the most common private-sector policies,

according to the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, a trade

group.

In and around Grand Forks, fights over government and insurance payouts

delayed rebuilding, and some people grew frustrated and moved away. An entire

low-lying area where houses were wrecked is now a greenway. But the population

has grown slightly since the flood, and much of the city has been

redeveloped. " It took a couple of years, but to be frank you can't tell there

was a

flood, " Mr. Korom said.

[Guest guest]

snk1955@... wrote:

Engineers say the standing water in New Orleans is not a grave threat to the

city's wooden houses, at least the newer ones. Most plywood used to construct

houses is made with water-resistant adhesives that retain strength even

when wet,

Is it an oxymoron when you say that the wood in New Orleans houses should not

pose a threat because they are water-resistance then say in the next statement

that this wood stays strong even when WET?

Bob

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