The INDEPENDENT, December 13, 2007
More information on flood clean-up
Columbia Health District ad-
vises that the most important
information to keep in mind is
that all flood water may be con-
taminated with bacteria from a
variety of sources, including fe-
cal material from septic sys-
tems. In addition, the ground
where flood water has receded
may also be contaminated. The
bacteria can cause illness.
You can get illness from:
1. Directly ingesting flood
water;
2. Transferring bacteria from
your hands to your eyes;
3. Transferring bacteria from
your boots or gloves to your
hands and to your eyes or
mouth.
4. Exposing an open wound
to the flood water;
5. Transferring bacteria from
your hands to food you are eat-
ing.
To avoid illness from con-
taminated flood water:
• use soap and water to
wash everything that comes in
contact with flood water or ar-
eas where flood water has re-
ceded;
• Use waterproof gloves dur-
ing flood cleanup and check
them regularly for cuts and
tears.
• Wear eye protection.
• Wear watertight boots.
• Wash your hands with
soap and water or with a weak
bleach solution (1/4 teaspoon
of household bleach per gallon
of water). Never mix bleach
and ammonia or other house-
hold cleaners because it can
produce
dangerous
toxic
fumes.
• Wash dishes in clean water
or rinse in the weak bleach so-
lution.
Salvage and cleaning of
flood damaged clothing and
fabrics:
• Dry fabrics as soon as pos-
sible to keep mold and mildew
from growing
• stuffed furniture, carpets,
carpet pads, rugs and other
very thick or dense material
probably cannot be salvaged.
• Clothing or other light-
weight fabric materials that can
be home laundered or washed
manually may be adequately
washed and sanitized by con-
ventional laundering process.
Food protection and sal-
vage:
• The only flood-damaged
foods that are entirely safe to
salvage are those in sealed
Bits & Bites
By Jacqueline Ramsay
commercial cans. Such cans
can be washed in warm water
and detergent and sanitized by
placing the washed cans in a
solution of household bleach
made by adding one to two tea-
spoons of bleach to one gallon
of clean water.
•
Contaminated
labels
should be removed and should
be relabeled with markable
tape
• Food in any type of screw-
top, corked, foiled or other clo-
sures are not cleanable.
• Containers opened before
flood damage should not be
salvaged.
• Leaking or bulging contain-
ers should also be discarded.
• Whole fruits and vegeta-
bles can be washed and sani-
tized as described above for
sealed cans. They should be
washed, sanitized and cooked.
Cleaning up your home:
• All hard surfaces should be
vigorously washed with water
and conventional household
cleaners and disinfected by
swabbing with a bleach solu-
tion mixed at one to two tea-
spoons of bleach per gallon of
clean water.
• All sinks, counters, food
preparation equipment, cook-
ing utensils, dishes, cups and
flatware should be thoroughly
washed and sanitized before
use with one to two teaspoons
of bleach per gallon of clean
water.
Protect yourself from mold:
• People with asthma, aller-
gies or other breathing condi-
tions may be more sensitive to
mold. Even dead mold can
cause allergic reactions in
some people.
• Drying out the flood dam-
aged area is the best protection
against mold.
• Mold growth is likely in
porous non-cleanable items in-
cluding leather, paper, insula-
tion.
• Mold growth can be pre-
vented by cleaning wet items
and surfaces with detergent
and water.
Page 7
Edi-
t o r ’ s
Note:
This col-
umn was
written
before
the Dec.
3 storm.
It
seems a bit early this year for
me to revert to my youth time
job of “check the oil in the
lamps, clean or clip the wicks
(dear, it’s your turn this time).”
At that time (the ‘30s in Bon-
neville) we had Coleman
lanterns with ‘mitten’ wicks and
if you shattered one of those –
“Big Trouble,” especially so if
there was no ‘extra’ one in the
box. Sound familiar? Well, all
four of mine are checked and
ready. It may be a stinky winter.
How was your no heat, no
lights day? I went visiting
where there was a woodstove
for heat and cooking. Thank
you, Father, for friends. When I
returned home I had lights but
no heat. I assumed the wind
had extinguished my pilot light
– no help available until next
a.m. (I could cook, had match-
es, when the lights were out).
Larry came, bless his sweet
spirit – he was busy helping
other “no heat” folks. Problem –
if your furnace is running when
the lights go out, the brain in
your furnace says it’s too hot
and throws a safety switch. I
also found out that “other”
switch will let you run your fan
“only” in the summer. It seems
there is a break in the chain of
information at the time of pur-
chase – salesperson tells and
shows head of house how
things go (it’s a secret), he
passes on and you are left dum
de dum until you ask what’s
that toggle switch for?? You’re
never too old to learn, you just
have to wait for the ‘moment’ to
learn.
Anyhow, I hope you had a
joyous Thanksgiving and are
looking forward to a peaceful
Christmas.
Turkey – mincemeat pie and
a hot nog to you.
P.S. We’ve all heard of
biodegradable, right? How it’s
good for us? Good to save our
world, yes? Well, my take on all
of that stuff is – I was unfortu-
nate enough on the 21st to
have to follow a bus for four
miles through the streets of
Portland with a sign reading
“Bio-diesel.” The smell was
“ugh,” turned my stomach,
gave me a headache (car win-
dows up or down, didn’t mat-
ter). It may save the ozone but
it will snuff out the population.
Note how it’s spelled, “die-
sel,” perhaps they mean “cels-
die” (a human)???