By: Annalissa Thomas

Tabuchi, Hiroko, and Sheila Kaplan. “A Sea of Health and Environmental Hazards in Houston’s Floodwaters.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 31 Aug. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/08/31/us/houston-contaminated-floodwaters.html?action=click&module=TrendingGrid®ion=TrendingTop&pgtype=collection.

This article talks about how the floodwaters that resulted from Hurricane Harvey were completely contaminated and filled with hazardous chemicals, sewage, debris and waste materials. Even though the drinking water system and sewage system were intact, thousands of people in Texas depend on private wells, and that is where the problem comes in. Additionally, Houston is at the center of the nation’s oil and chemical industry, so damaged facilities have released more than 200 pounds of hazardous substances into the air due to the hurricane (Tabuchi). There are numerous environmental threats that need to be faced, and they need to be faced before catastrophic events like this occur and leak hazardous chemicals into the air.

Flooding is known to bring the danger of contamination and disease into communities, however not many people worry about this because “the epidemics from floods in the United States have been rare” (Tabuchi). But this indifference can cause many issues, because actions are not taken to prevent contamination in the case that a flood does occur, as it just did in Texas. Suggestions to fight the effects of the contamination have been made, such as scrubbing everything in the home that the floodwaters touched, encouraging children not to play in the floodwaters, and immediately washing any part of your body that came in contact with the floodwaters (Christensen). In addition to focusing on how to mitigate the effects of the hurricane, though, efforts should be made in focusing on how to fix the environment so contamination isn’t even an option. For example, the sewer systems have had a history of overflow, and the hurricane increased that overflow which contributed to contamination, so efforts should be made to fix the sewer systems. Being cognizant of issues before natural disaster strikes is extremely important because it can increase the chances of avoiding the multitude of negative effects of the disaster.

 

Additional source:

Christensen, Jen. “The Hidden Health Dangers of Flooding.” CNN, Cable News Network, 31 Aug. 2017, www.cnn.com/2017/08/27/health/health-consequences-flood-waters/index.html.