One Year Later: How Nebraskans are Still Being Impacted by the 2019 Floods

Approximately one year since historic flooding ravaged much of Nebraska, many Nebraskans are still left with uncertainty over their future, as a result of mold and a lack of assistance from local, state, and federal organizations.

As the water receded Nebraska homes in late March of last year, more issues began flowing into homeowners heads.

The lasting impacts of these floodwaters was at the center of many of these questions.

Mold was the entity asking the questions.

For mold to set in, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services says, “it needs moisture and a food source, and since there is usually plenty of organic material in a home to serve as food for the mold, the presence of water determines where mold will grow.”

Their website adds that flooding only makes this situation worse for homeowners and, due to the 2019 floods, many Nebraskans have, and will face mold-related issues in 2019 and 2020.

In fact, this impact has already been seen.

At the end of fiscal year 2019, the Douglas County Health Department Air Quality Section responded to 433 mold complaints/inspections compared to 404 mold complaints/inspections in fiscal year 2018, an increase of 7.2% over 2018 complaints.

This number, due to the lack of eligibility for FEMA assistance for some, is most likely much higher, according to FEMA.

Detailed in the Nebraska Housing Impact Assessment (DR-4422), they said, “a 29-county region was designated for FEMA Individual Assistance in Nebraska,” however, “concern was expressed for families who did not initially apply for any FEMA assistance but now have used all their money and savings and still are not recovered,” adding, “some of these families are over the income limits for assistance and thus will likely not receive any in 2020.”

This means, if these homeowners have mold in their homes, as a result of the 2019 flooding, or need any other federal assistance in order to rebuild their homes, they will not be getting it.

This truly becomes an issue for Nebraskans when concerning health concerns that mold produces, as, not only will they be able to get old removed from their homes, but they may not even know the mold they do have is at unacceptable and dangerous levels.

This is because Nebraska does not have specific regulations with respect to mold, so cases and incidence rates are not reported to the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

According to Kalilah LeGrand, the director of communications for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, “mold remediation and testing is handled through the private sector, or through local jurisdictions that may enforce nuisance codes related to mold and habitability and because of this, we do not have data sheets, information about numbers of homes affected by mold in flood plains, or FEMA response rates.”

Furthermore, LeGrand said, “there is not a risk quantification system for mold that would allow for the determination of, ‘how much more at risk’ one home is over another and there are no current standards that designate what is an acceptable, tolerable, or normal quantity of mold.”

LeGrand however said that it is possible that there is a different state division that has flood-related information available.

However, there isn’t.

When asked, NEMA, or the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency, has no guidelines on what constitutes an unsafe mold problem in homes either and furthermore offers no support in the remediation of it.

Molly Bargmann, the recovery section manager at Nebraska Emergency Management Agency said, “unfortunately at NEMA we do not track this type of data but I might suggest you start with the local health departments as well as local emergency managers.”

However, local health departments, as Bargmann suggested, have no mold data or remediation assistance either.

Phil Rooney, a resource specialist at Douglas County Health Department said, “we received your request for information and I think someone at state Health and Human Services would be best suited to answer those questions as that may require a state-wide perspective we cannot provide; someone with environmental health at DHHS should be able to help you.”

What this means is that, on the state level, Nebraska does not enforce any livable expectations for how much mold a home can have, and enforcement on cleanup procedures of mold in homes, or offer any assistance in the cleanup of mold from homes.

This is, of course concerning, because, according to Doug Gillespie, a health program manager for DCHD, mold can be very dangerous.

“The first thing a home or business owner must consider is safety,” said Gillespie. “Re-entering your home after a flood can be quite dangerous, then, if you can enter your home and there is mold present, it can affect your health.”

So, without local or state help, is there federal assistance flood survivors can turn to?

Once again, there isn’t.

Neither the Environmental Protection Agency, nor the Federal Emergency Management Agency has a certification program for mold inspectors or mold remediation firms.

What this has meant for many Nebraskans in the last year, as a result of the early 2019 flooding, is that they have practically been stuck in limbo.

Some, stuck without homes.

According to the Housing Recovery Stakeholders’ Meeting, as part of the Nebraska Housing Impact Assessment DR-4422, “Nebraska has no mechanism for condemnation built into Nebraska laws and regulations, making it difficult to end occupancy in homes with mold and other flood related issues and nuisance abatement is usually the mechanism for which a lease can be ended, or a property vacated.”

The meeting also outlined that, in order to move back into a home that was submitted for financial assistance to NEMA or FEMA in 2019, a certain standard had to be met.

“Housing rehabilitation must bring the structure back to a ‘habitable housing’ standard, which is in accordance with local health and safety regulations, codes, and ordinances,” said the meeting notes. “A property must be repaired to ensure plumbing, electrical, and structural systems and fixtures are fully operational and meet existing building codes, as well as complete mold remediation.”

This, of course, is an issue, as mold remediation has no guidelines surrounding what is and is not acceptable, and because of this, and because these homeowners decided to reach out for financial help, in the time of disaster, they were left homeless.

Those who kept quiet, and did not apply for assistance, are, most likely, still living in mold-filled or mold-vulnerable homes.

This has caused lasting effects, as mentioned above and will continue to do so in the future.

In terms of health, mold impacts people in various ways.

The Center for Disease Control said, “in 2004, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) found there was sufficient evidence to link indoor exposure to mold with upper respiratory tract symptoms, cough, and wheeze in otherwise healthy people; with asthma symptoms in people with asthma; and with hypersensitivity pneumonitis in individuals susceptible to that immune-mediated condition.”

In terms of the lasting impact Nebraskans are facing with regaining their homes, many people are still being negatively impacted as well.

Below, a table details these impacts.

The following communities continue to have housing issues, including displaced families and water issues.

• Valley, Waterloo: 293 families still displaced

• King Lake: Originally there were approximately 100 homes at King Lake – initially all but six were damaged. Thirty (30) now have building permits, but only 5-6 are being worked on. Two families need homes built in King Lake: they are elderly, disabled and need accessible housing.

• Sarpy County: 420 families who cannot return and cannot rebuild.

• Cass County: Several houses that cannot be rebuilt.

• Schuyler County: Apartments are being built in Schuyler. Cargill has hired over 700 people from Fremont to work in Schuyler. They are going to put the housing in Beemer instead of Fremont because they cannot find a location to put the housing.

• Peru: Seven families are out of their homes, but the entire community is without a safe water supply since they must rely on shipping in water. The water systems are out for the entire town. Water and/or wastewater treatment facilities are significantly affected.

• Peru and Plattsmouth: Both Peru and Plattsmouth have water issues. There are opportunities for mitigation, environment, engineering, and land acquisition. There are temporary systems being completed.

• Boyd County: Water source was piped in under the Niobrara. Four communities lost their entire water systems. This has a huge effect not just on housing but entire business communities as well.

• Douglas-Sarpy Counties: There are approximately 1,500 individuals homeless on any given night in a tri-county area (Douglas, Sarpy Counties in Nebraska, Pottawatomie County in Iowa—the Omaha-Council Bluffs Continuum of Care).

• Wood River and Dannabrog: These communities have enough labor but need funding to repair and replace foundations in housing affected by the flooding. Grand Island Community Foundation and United Way are working together; the agencies have applied for funds from DED. They continue searching for resources to close gaps.

• Wood River: The school system loses children to Grand Island when their families move there and do not return. They don’t come back because there is no place to come back to and the places that remain aren’t livable (for flood related reasons). And, in St. Edwards, there are reports of families living in mold-filled units.

• Lincoln: Labor and contractors are at a rising crisis, with available skilled labor at a premium.

Because of this, as 2019’s historic flood wades ever deeper into the past, many of the problems it brought with it are still yet to come.