PurdueAgricultures
From Tragedy to Triumph
Mold Team mobilizes local disaster-relief agencies
By Rosalyn Demaree
It takes a lot to drown Joan Nash's indomitable spirit.
But her smile disappears, her head drops and her shoulders droop when she tells about hearing that the river was going to flood in Tippecanoe County's Horseshoe Bend in February 2008.
She recalls thinking, "Oh hell, here it comes again."
Just 29 days earlier, on Jan. 8, 2008, the Tippecanoe River, usually waist- to chest-high at her home, had topped 17 feet, eclipsing all records, according to Dave McDowell, Carroll County Emergency Management Agency director.
Joan and her husband Bob, now both 75, had 20 minutes to escape before 4 feet of water rushed in, pummeling their home at the river's edge. Their home looked ransacked. Shards of wood dangled from what was a deck. Furniture was overturned and battered. Bulges made the living-room flooring look like a mogul course. Everything—even insulation inside walls—was drenched.
When the Nashes returned, a musty smell permeated the air. Mold growing under siding "bugged our sinuses," Bob remembers.
Recovery was just beginning when the second flood hit Feb. 6, 2008. "It was not quite so big but still devastating," says Al Shipe, a National Weather Service hydrologist.
Mold Team Responds
Help for the Nashes came from a now 3-year-old Purdue Extension program that is swiftly becoming a national model. The Indiana Mold Team has helped thousands of people recover from floods and other disasters through a network of Purdue Extension educators, social-service providers and volunteers the team has trained.
It all started in 2007 with extensive flooding throughout Indiana. While Extension action teams had been set up in response to the flooding, Steve Cain, director of the Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN) at Purdue, felt something more permanent was needed to deal with the health and structural problems that mold creates. Enter the Indiana Mold Team.
The team partners with 10 regional disaster-assistance groups and is "ready to respond when disaster strikes," says Mary Lou Elbert, Purdue Extension director in Warrick County and co-coordinator of the mold team. When there's an incident, a disaster-assistance group coordinator alerts the area mold team member, who contacts the local Purdue Extension office.
Help of all kind arrives quickly after Purdue Extension educators notify relief and government agencies, such as the American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, health and emergency management offices, and churches. Collectively, these organizations provide education, volunteers, contractors and funding to pay for remediation work for homeowners, renters and businesses.
"Our goal is to return homes to pre-flood wholeness," says Denise Schroeder, Purdue Extension educator in White County and the other mold team co-coordinator. "We're not trying to make them better than before." Work ranges from replacing walls, flooring and baseboards, as was done for the Nashes, to total rebuilding of houses.
The Nashes knew nothing about mold before the flood. "We learned the hard way," Joan says. Mold grew underneath the siding, and their home's saturated walls had to be cut open so insulation and drywall could be replaced.
Resources Serve Thousands
In its three years, the mold team has amassed printed resources, created others and rounded up groups that can help in a disaster, giving educators tools to respond effectively. Cain, who is also president of Indiana Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters, estimates that about 30,000 families received flood recovery information from Purdue Extension in 2008 and 2009.
Already this year, the mold team has been called into action as heavy rains combined with snow and ice melt have damaged several hundred homes in Indiana. "This winter, rivers and streams rose and fell like yo-yos as rains alternately pummeled parts of the state and then subsided," Cain says. "We often lived day to day with the threat of floods."
The mold team also responds to situations where nature isn't the problem. Burst pipes, overflowing sump pumps and even the way a home is built can invite mold growth. Poor construction and low-quality materials allow moisture to collect. On the other hand, homes are being built so tightly today that air quality sometimes suffers and mold becomes more prevalent, Schroeder says. Mold not only destroys structures, it can lead to respiratory and other health problems for people exposed to it. Those with asthma are especially susceptible. The team's next project is to help homeowners improve air quality.
Team Becomes National Model
Elbert's and Schroeder's presentations about the mold team at national health and disaster-network conferences, including the 2009 EDEN annual meeting, have inspired other states to consider duplicating the model.
Establishing the nation's first mold team was an important step for disaster education. "We've created a process that works well and has been recognized nationally," Cain says. "We're going to develop some educational products that will be used across the country."
Other land-grant universities are monitoring the team's success, particularly how it uses county leaders to answer local questions about mold mitigation—a key goal of EDEN, Cain says. Information on mold and how to recover from a flood is available on EDEN's website.
Since the work was done on their home, the Nashes haven't had to battle any floods. Their sole remaining task is to re-landscape their riverside retirement nest. Joan stews a little about the flowers they need to return their yard to full bloom, but she and Bob never lack appreciation for the peace of mind the team has given them. "We don't have that worry about getting up at night and stepping into water."
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