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DEP OFFERS TIPS FOR SAFE FLOOD CLEANUP

Environmental Protection Secretary James M. Seif advises residents whose homes have been affected by flood waters to take a number of precautions to assure a safe cleanup.

"The aftermath of a flood presents a number of potential dangers for injury and disease," Seif said. "It's important that people working on their homes after the flood use caution to make the long, difficult cleaning process a safe one."

Seif said residents should disinfect everything the flood water has touched. Residents should scrub down walls and any other smooth, hard surfaces that flood water touched with a water and two percent chlorine bleach solution. Two to three capfuls of chlorine bleach to a bucket of water are recommended. When disinfecting surfaces, residents should wear boots and gloves.

DEP, county and state emergency management agencies and the American Red Cross have issued the following recommendations to homeowners who suffered flood damage:

CONTACT: John Comey, Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, 717-787-1822.