A Major Moldy Problem

Much of the lower sections of New Orleans have been under water for weeks now, and when those people finally come back, the site that greets them will not be pretty. Many, if not a very high percentage of the homes in that area (numbering in the thousands) will have to be torn down because of mold:

Wearing goggles, gloves, galoshes and a mask, Veronica Randazzo lasted only 10 minutes inside her home in St. Bernard Parish. Her eyes burned, her mouth filled with a salty taste and she felt nauseous. Her 26-year-old daughter, Alicia, also covered in gear, came out coughing.

"That mold," she said. "It smells like death."

Mold now forms an interior version of kudzu in the soggy South, posing health dangers that will make many homes tear-downs and will force schools and hospitals to do expensive repairs.

It's a problem that any homeowner who has ever had a flooded basement or a leaky roof has faced. But the magnitude of this problem leaves many storm victims prey to unscrupulous or incompetent remediators. Home test kits for mold, for example, are worthless, experts say.

I'm not sure if mold is covered as part of a federal flood insurance policy, but it's likely to be exluded from most standard homeowner's policies.

Don't expect help from insurance companies, either. Most policies were revised in the last decade to exclude mold damage because of "sick building" lawsuits alleging illnesses. Although mold's danger to those with asthma or allergies is real, there's little or no science behind other claims, and a lot of hype.

I look for this to be the source of the next round of lawsuits against the insurance companies, similar to what's going on now in Mississippi.