Health warning for flood affected areas and homes

Public health warnings for Bay areas and homes affected by flooding. Photo/file

This week's flooding has prompted a health warning from the Bay health authorities.

Toi Te Ora Public Health Service is warning residents affected by flooding that potential health risks come hand in hand with the flooding, including the spread of gastroenteritis.

Residents were warned to assume all flood water was potentially contaminated with farm run-off, faecal matter from animals and sewage.

In particular, keep children away from flood waters.

In homes, offices or shops have been affected by flood water above floor level all soft furnishings would need to be decontaminated or disposed of.

This included carpets, curtains, furniture or any other fittings.

In some cases thorough cleaning followed by exposure to sunlight would be enough but some furnishings and fittings would have to be thrown out.

Toi Te Ora recommended any discarded furnishings to be dumped immediately, not left lying around for weeks.

If food was affected by flood water, or fridges or freezers left without power for more than a couple hours, the food would need to be thrown out.

Any food premises should take extra care to ensure everything was decontaminated.

Sewage systems were often affected in floods and contents of septic tanks could find their way to the surface and mix in with flood waters.

Any sports fields, parks or gardens which have been flooded should not be used for 48 hours after all surface water has disappeared.

This allowed time for fresh air, win and sunlight to decontaminate most of the bugs that would have been left behind by the flooding.

It was also recommended that people avoid swimming in rivers, streams and harbour areas for at least 48 hours after heavy rainfall events.

Shellfish beds were also likely to be affected by contaminated water .

Due to the way shellfish filter their food from the water they were likely to carry higher than acceptable levels of microbes, including bacteria and viruses, for some time.

For more information of returning to your home after flood damage go to http://www.ttophs.govt.nz/flooding