Much of the hurricane-hit South is covered in mold, which was a problem even before everything got soaked. From Monster Mold Threatens Health in the South:
A Louisiana State University allergist, the late Dr. John Salvaggio, described at medical meetings in the 1970s what he called ‘New Orleans asthma,’ an illness that filled hospital emergency rooms each fall with people who couldn’t breathe. He linked it to high levels of mold spores that appeared in the humid, late summer months.