After Hurricane Ian destroyed the area, the bereaved fiancée of a father-of-two who died from exposure to poisonous mould Florida has criticised FEMA for supposedly not offering assistance.
According to the WTSP, Christian Childers, 26, passed away from an asthma attack on Monday.
His devastated fiancée Kendra Elliot said that the attack was brought on by the black mould that had accumulated inside their house since Hurricane Ian had flooded it in September.
The family had been attempting to move for months, but Elliott said that due to skyrocketing rents, they required assistance.
She asserted that they had pleaded with FEMA and the Red Cross for help with either removing the mould or moving but had consistently been rejected.
Elliott asserts that the family’s requests for housing assistance were turned down by FEMA and that FEMA would still consider their house to be usable “since there’s a roof intact.”
“Clearly, it’s not, my fiancé just died,” Elliot said.
“I want that policy changed.”
A request for comment from the U.S. Sun was not immediately answered by FEMA.
According to the CDC, black mould can be a major health risk for those who have asthma or compromised immune systems and can even cause attacks.
Anybody would be at risk if there were enough of it.
When Hurricane Ian flooded their home in the fall of last year, portions of the walls turned to mush, and a bedroom and bathroom were rendered utterly uninhabitable. This is how Elliot explained the issue started.
After months of begging for assistance, the unthinkable occurred.
Childers was sent to the hospital after having a serious asthma attack.
On Christmas Eve, while he was on a ventilator, Elliot claimed to have last seen her fiancé.
He was eventually medically declared to be brain dead after being placed into a coma.
On Monday, the father of two passed away.
The family now wants to utilise their experience to highlight the bureaucratic obstacles they encountered and demand that FEMA amend its regulations.
