Dangers of Flood Waters and Contamination Following Hurricane Helene

Hurricane Helene flooded towns and cities in its path. 

As residents continue to clean up, the health dangers of standing water and the lack of drinking water is now a concern.

Flood waters often can be contaminated with bacteria, chemicals and even sewage which can make people vulnerable to infectious diseases. Flood waters can cause skin irritation and rashes. 

The Washington Post reports, residents in Asheville, NC are now boiling water to kill bacteria as the water supply becomes a problem. The city’s water system was severely damaged by the storm.Flood water can also make the air in your home unhealthy. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, mold can grow on wood, drywall, carpet and furniture if they remain wet for more than 24 hours. 

Faculty experts at the George Washington University are available to discuss health risks and the dangers of drinking contaminated water. To schedule an interview with an expert, please contact Katelyn Deckelbaum at [email protected].

Jose Lucar is an infectious disease physician and associate professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences. 

Aileen Chang is an associate professor of medicine at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences. She also serves as assistant director for research at GW’s Rodham Institute for Health Disparities. She has international experience managing vector borne diseases. She can discuss how standing water can contribute to mosquito borne illness.

Alicia Cooperman is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University. Her research focuses on local and global challenges in water politics and policy, political economy of development, civil society and accountability, and climate change. Her broader research agenda studies the politics of natural disasters, natural resource management, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. Cooperman’s work is forthcoming or has been published in American Political Science Review, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Political Analysis, Comparative Political Studies, Global Environmental Change, and WIREs Water, among others.

Critical Infrastructure & Water Systems

Caitlin Grady, associate professor of engineering management and systems engineering, studies the form and functions of interconnected infrastructure across water, food, and energy systems. Her research seeks to create a more sustainable and secure environment. Current projects include modeling embedded nitrogen trade and its influence on water quality, climate change impacts on hydropower and the U.S. electricity grid, and managing critical infrastructure under uncertainty. She can discuss critical infrastructure resilience in the face of climate change and natural weather events as well as the process to getting the water system back up and running.

Danmeng Shuai, professor of civil & environmental engineering, specializes in catalysis, nanotechnology, and public health microbiology. His group aims to understand the fundamentals of how microbes and chemicals interact with (catalytic) nanomaterials, and leverage these interactions for beneficial engineering applications such as environmental pollution control and remediation, renewable energy production, food quality and safety improvement, and infectious disease prevention.