Cape Girardeau urges caution with household appliances in flood cleanup

The City of Cape Girardeau sent out the following information in news release form today:

City of Cape Girardeau officials would like to encourage residents to use caution with household goods as they begin the clean-up process from the recent flooding.  This especially applies to using any electrical appliance that may have been in contact or submerged in flood waters.

Additionally, since flood waters may carry many kinds of chemical and bacteria that can cause infection, injury or disease; it is important that these items be thrown out or cleaned and dried as quickly as possible. Prompt drying of all items is crucial because wet or damp fabrics will mold or mildew very quickly. Mold can lead to allergies and other respiratory problems.

Stuffed furniture, carpets, carpet pads, pillows, rugs that are too large to launder or dry-clean, probably cannot be salvaged because they cannot be cleaned adequately nor dried quickly enough. Unless these articles are very valuable and you can arrange quickly for commercial cleaning and drying, they should be thrown out.

Clothing and other light-weight fabric materials can be washed in a household washing machine. (It is safe to use your household water for laundering even though there may be a boil advisory or other concerns about the safety of water for drinking or for food preparation purposes.) Take care in removing soil to prevent "settings" stains.

Cold water rinsing or washing may be necessary before you use hot water or before you use heat for drying. You can use standard laundry detergent, following instructions and precautions on the labels. Warm or hot water washing is more effective in sanitizing than is cold washing. Hot or warm drying is also helpful in killing bacteria as are fresh air and sunshine.

Be sure that heavily contaminated clothing receive warm or hot treatment somewhere during the cleaning process. It is not necessary to launder differently than you normally do so long as you keep your wash and rinse water reasonably clean.