As floodwaters from Hurricane Sandy receded, homeowners, businesses and municipalities returned to their flood-damaged structures and quickly realized that the problem of water damage was compounded by chemical and microbial contamination. In an ideal world, flood victims would secure the services of qualified professional water damage and mold remediation technicians to assist them. In reality, flood victims and those that want to assist them are often times poorly trained or equipped, as was reported in the NY Daily News on Dec 3, 2012: “Sandy Cleanup: Workers who are sent into mold-infested storm damaged basements lack proper equipment, gear or training.”
On Monday, October 22, 2012 NOAA, The National Weather Service issued their first advisory that Tropical Depression 18 had officially become Tropical Storm Sandy. At that time, her maximum sustained winds neared 40 miles per hour. By Thursday, maximum sustained winds reached 105 miles per hour. The Red Cross and government officials encouraged residents of the northeast to take steps to be prepared and the Small Business Administration (SBA) urged business leaders to be ready for the massive storm. Sandy soon became an estimated 900-mile wide super storm, which made landfall in New Jersey and moved towards New York on October 29, 2012. The storm surge filled subways, tunnels, streets, homes and buildings.