HOLDEN, La. (BRPROUD) — For many in southeast Louisiana the power is back, debris removed and flooding has gone down but there is a new problem many are now dealing with.
Mold. One woman says her home is uninhabitable.
“We could actually see the house coming apart. I did not think that at that time we would probably make it. So I took a permanent marker and I wrote my name on my arm and on my son’s arm and just in case that the house was going to come apart,” said Holden resident Shattelle Mclin.
A shocking and traumatic scene was left of Shattelle Mclin’s home after Hurricane Ida passed through Holden.
“The roof of the house is it ripped completely and blew it through the attic and it blew out the other side of the house,” said Mclin. “The walls of the kitchen looked like a faucet going down the walls of the kitchen and it was just devastating.”
As the water started to seep in, so did memories of the 2016 flood.
“It really brought back a lot of traumatizing things, are we going to end up homeless or are we going to end up in a hotel?” she explained.
Even the smell of the mold was worrisome for her.
“It is the reminder of a smell of 2016, and it is scary because you don’t know the extent of the damage and you’re not a constructor, you just don’t know what you’re looking at,” said Mclin.
Mclin is now battling a mold problem growing throughout her home.
“I can see more of it starting to sag and I can smell the smell is it’s hard to breathe,” said Mclin.
She has been desperate for help.
“I’m praying that FEMA will help us and help several other families like us because, without their help, we will be homeless,” said Mclin. “We received no word from FEMA then because the lines were so backed up, which is understandable. We have been living in the shed.”
FEMA does cover some mold-related damages.
“We provide temporary housing assistance that, along with emergency home repairs, are the two big aspects of the FEMA recovery,” said FEMA spokesman Nate Custer.
He said they hope to help get people back into their homes. If you do have mold in your home, FEMA says not to stay there and encourages you to apply for assistance.
FEMA encourages you to make follow-up calls if you have not heard from them and to keep a lookout for Disaster Recovery Centers in your area.