While there’s no way to know the full impact of Hurricane Katrina’s destruction when it comes to asbestos exposure, experts believe that the storm almost certainly made significant amounts of asbestos airborne, potentially exposing thousands. To make matters worse, in the months that followed, many badly damaged structures had to be torn down rapidly to ensure public safety. Asbestos remediation protocols were impossible to follow in many instances, and the whole story of Katrina’s impact on the health of the City of New Orleans may not be known for years or decades.
The Environmental Protection Agency believes that we won’t know the full scope of Katrina-related asbestos exposure for as long as 50 years, but area residents who worked to clean up and rebuild the Gulf Coast in the months and years after August 2005 may find that mesothelioma is one final legacy of Hurricane Katrina.
And because skilled workers came to New Orleans from throughout the Southeast and further away to play a role in rebuilding the city, a fresh wave of mesothelioma may develop in coming years affecting men and women who showed up with the best of intentions and left with toxic exposure they won’t know about for decades.
The New Orleans area is home to many professions that created a higher risk for workers here, including shipyards and refineries. As tragic as it is that employees in those fields were exposed to asbestos, Hurricane Katrina may have left the general public in the region exposed to this known carcinogen, with huge health consequences yet to be seen. The Gertler Law Firm can help connect you to mesothelioma resources if you’ve been exposed to asbestos in Louisiana. Call us today at (504) 581-6411 and talk to an experienced mesothelioma attorney for free.
