The flooding disaster at the end of June took its toll on property and people and Alberta Health Services is keeping an eye out for a spike in illnesses.
Debbie Piquette Roney says cleaning up after the flood has been exhausting both physically and mentally.
She says she is stressed out and her asthma is worse, which may be due to the silt in the air.
“Shortness of breath, wheeziness, coughing a lot. I’m coughing during the day and during the night and sometimes it’s really a growly cough and sometimes it’s dry,” said Piquette Roney.
Alberta Health Services says cases like this may be linked to flood conditions but there has not been a noticeable increase in respiratory or gastrointestinal illnesses related to mould, dirty water, or bad air.
“The dust and the mould are still there but they are at a lower level than they were before and the silt is being cleaned up and many of the homes have already been remediated in terms of the mould so there’s still some that were very badly affected, particularly in High River, that folks are only just getting to, but in terms of the whole population, the exposure should be less now than it was last week and the week before,” said Dr. Richard Musto, from Alberta Health Services.
The immediate danger for physical ailments seems to be over but the mental health effects will likely be much longer.
“As this drags on, it just wears on you and so we would expect people to be certainly still stressed and still dealing with the frustration and anxiety about being displaced from their home,” said Dr. Musto.
Dr. Musto says there are a lot of resources available and hopefully people will seek help quickly if they need it.
(With files from Karen Owen)
