Albertans in post-flood cleanup phase face new hazards: Health risks and thieves

While most of the reporters and cameras have left, the complex and dirty job of cleaning up from southern Alberta's devastating floods continues and experts are renewing warnings about the health hazards involved.

Damage-restoration professionals told CBC News that basic safety gear, such as government-issued N95 face masks, may not be good enough to protect against the moulds and toxic materials people will encounter as they clean up their homes.

“Everybody at first was coughing a lot, myself included,” Neil Sonnenberg, who was cleaning up his High River home, told CBC News.

“We kind of jokingly called it the 'High River cough.' It was pretty common that everyone was walking around coughing all the time.”

[ Related: After flood waters recede, what’s left behind may be worse ]

The coughs developed even though people were wearing the N95 masks, which are designed to filter out 95 per cent of particulates.

“Mould and asbestos would be a high-risk job and you would need a full face mask, which would require it to be fit-tested by a professional,” restoration expert Tyler DeGagne told CBC News.

Alberta health officials say, however, that there's been no spike in reports of respiratory illness in the wake of the flood.

The province seems to have recognized that most homeowners don't have the expertise to use the best cleanup practices, The Canadian Press reported.

The government issued a booklet "Returning Home Safely After Flooding," with simple checklists.

"Only three people died as a result of the flooding, and it would just be an absolute shame if people were injured — or, worse, die — as they move back into their homes," Dr. James Talbot, Alberta's chief medical officer, told CP.

"We understand that need to get back to normal as soon as possible, but if they're admitted to hospital, it's going to be even that much longer."

Talbot said the number of people turning up at hospital ERs with wounds and abrasions has risen by 10 per cent. Health officials won't allow people back to work on their homes until they've been declared structurally safe and the surrounding soil has dried.

"People really need to have a little patience and wait until the ground is dry, then they need to get the basement dry, and then they need to let the [other] areas dry completely," Talbot told CP.

"It's going to be a long recovery period here, and you have to get the sequence right, because it's one of those things where you either do it right or you're going to have to do it over again."

Talbot also pointed to the psychological problems disaster victims face. Public health officials have noted a slight increase in gender-based violence, he told the Calgary Herald, and rising use of anti-anxiety and sleep-aid drugs.

“Often those [mental-health issues] are slow to develop and don’t show up for a number of months after a disaster,” said Talbot. “We will continue to monitor this significantly into the recovery period.”

[ Related: Top Mountie seeks investigation into seizures of evacuees' guns ]

And as if the "normal" strain of rebuilding after a disaster isn't enough, some flood victims have experienced humanity at its worst — looters.

CTV News reported thieves have stolen copper wire and pipes from evacuated homes in High River, which was badly hit by flood waters. Some were quite brazen, such as the guy who pulled up in front of Yousra Jomha's home and, claiming to work for the town, tried to take away a metal filing cabinet.

"And that's what happened to a lot of people," Jomha told CTV News.

Then there was the crew who showed up outside Katie Vogt's bakery with a front-end loader and trailer and made off with $150,000 worth of mixers, ovens and racks she'd moved outside in advance of an insurance assessment.

"One minute it's there, one minute it's gone," she said.

RCMP are now asking disaster-restoration workers to wear identification.

“It’s re-victimizing people,” Const. Jeff McBeth of the High River RCMP detachment told CTV News.

“Like they haven’t had enough to deal with, then we have some people who come in and take opportunities of a terrible situation and hinder the recovery process.”