Clean up crews swamped with mold calls after floods

Receding flood waters start to show damage, but the biggest health concern remains unseen in homes across Mid-Missouri.

Clean up crews across the area reported this week they were swamped with calls about leaks and mold in homes and businesses.

Servicemaster of Columbia told ABC 17 News Wednesday it had multiple crews working overtime and using equipment borrowed from nearby company franchises just to keep up.

“We’re still playing catch up from some of the very first jobs we started on,” said employee Reggie Kinser while out on a call in north Columbia.

The Aspen Ridge Drive home had water in the basement, soaking parts of the carpet. But a lack of outward appearances can be deceiving.

“If it’s not caught, eventually you’re gonna grow mold back here behind the baseboard and possibly on the backside of the sheetrock as well as the carpet,” said Kinser.

Resident Diana Durand had some proactive plans of her own, especially with more rain in the forecast.

“I think every time that it rains, that it really pours, it’s worth doing a check on the house and basement,” says Durand.