During last week's historic storm, Ivette Mayo's home in Queens, New York, was flooded with four feet of water. Now it is feared that the house, along with so many others, is contaminated with dangerous bacteria.
Water rushed through the sewer valves in Mayo's basement. She says she frantically waded through the murky flood water to salvage family photos and priceless belongings.
"It was a desperate and slow process to get these photos out of the albums," Mayo said.
He hung them on a clothesline to dry inside his home. But two days later, she began to feel very ill. He went to the hospital and was diagnosed with E. coli and norovirus.
Mayo says he knows exactly how he got sick while cleaning.
"I didn't wear gloves and every once in a while I would cry and wipe my face," Mayo said.
Dr. Roshini Raj says that it is very dangerous to walk in dirty water.
โYou can get a lot of infections from contaminated flood water. So you can get a serious skin infection or gastrointestinal infection, something like E. coli, for example, which could end up in hospital or even kill you, โRaj said.
Raj recommends that when you are near flood water, you cover your skin with boots and gloves and always wash with antibacterial soap.
