Topline
Tropical Storm Hilary ignited flash flooding when it landed in southern California on Sunday, and experts from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) advise avoiding or limiting contact with floodwaters for the health risks floodwaters pose.
The CDC and EPA recommend avoiding and limiting contact with floodwater due to health risks. (Gina … [+]
Key Facts
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says debris, downed power lines, human, household, industrial, livestock and medical waste, vehicles and other harmful contaminants can swim around in floodwaters caused by natural disasters.
Gastrointestinal illnesses, rashes and wound infections are a few ways the CDC reports floodwaters can harm the health of those who come in contact with it.
The University of Nebraska Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources said floodwaters can damage water wells and water supply infrastructure, leading to contamination of drinking water.
Contaminated flood water entering the local drinking system can cause illnesses or topical reactions, the institute said, and recommends drinking bottled water or boiling the contaminated water.
Forbes reached out to California’s State Water Resources Control Board for updates on the water quality in previously flooded areas.
If one must travel amid the storm, the CDC advises wearing rubber boots, gloves and goggles, washing clothes in hot water and detergent after encountering floodwater, as well as washing impacted areas with soap and water or alcohol-based wipes and treating infected wounds.
Crucial Quote
“When a flood carries a car, it moves not just the car but also gasoline and transmission fluid. When the water scours soil and backyards, it dredges up heavy metals and other toxins previously buried. Household chemicals such as cleaners also enter the water. The greater the area that floods, the greater the potential for chemical contamination. Industrial facilities such as refineries, power plants, chemical storage, or even highly contaminated Superfund sites pose an even greater risk,” environmental engineer James MacDonald wrote in JSTOR Daily.
Key Background
The overflowing of water on normally dry land and the speed at which the rain falls has forced the National Severe Storms Laboratory to deem flash floods “the most dangerous kind of floods.” The risk to human life stems from the water and the potential of it being contaminated with what it contacts in any given environment–the range of which is infinite. Superfund sites are landfills, manufacturing facilities, mining sites and power plants, and pose the risk of chemical, biological and radiological waste contamination in nearby flooded areas. The state of California, according to the EPA, has 96 such sites. According to Water Quality Data from California’s State Water Resources Control Board, 408 drinking water systems serve over 9 million people in the areas impacted by Tropical Storm Hilary; 47 of them are failing and 62 are at risk.
News Peg
Tropical Storm Hilary landed in the Golden State on Sunday and flooded parts of southern California, including Imperial, California, home of the Stoker Company’s Superfund site, and is expected to bring heavy rain and flash flooding to Los Angeles, home of nearly 20 Superfund sites, Monday.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/darreonnadavis/2023/08/21/debris-and-industrial-waste-makes-flood-waters-dangerous-heres-what-californians-need-to-know-amid-tropical-storm-hilary/