BLACKSBURG, Va. – Cleanup efforts across the state continue as several areas in our backyard were struck by flooding. 10 News is working for you on how several health concerns could impact you.
Associate Professor Julia Gohlke with the Virginia Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech said they typically see increases in carbon monoxide cases in the emergency department.
She said to make sure you are using your generators correctly.
Gohlke also said mental health can be a major concern.
“As you can imagine, if you are in a very extreme weather event, it can be traumatizing. If you lose your home, that can also be traumatizing—all of potentially sentimental value items in your home—it can be extremely traumatizing and definitely, there have been research showing that that can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder like symptoms,” said Gohlke.
There are other risks associated with pregnant women.
“Any stressful event can eventually lead to pre-term labor and in particular when we look at extreme weather events like flood events, we do see increases in emergency department visits for pregnancy complications and that’s mostly due to preterm labor if that preterm labor isn’t slowed down that can result in pre-term births,” said Gohlke.
Gohlke also said that asthma can be another problem.
“Mold growth in a home is associated with respiratory symptoms, particularly for those that already have asthma it can really exacerbate asthma or other respiratory symptoms,” said Gohlke.