AP reports the concern surrounding "Monster Mold", a factor for the South after the hurricanes...

Wearing goggles, gloves, galoshes and a mask, Veronica Randazzo lasted only 10 minutes inside her home in St. Bernard Parish. Her eyes burned, her mouth filled with a salty taste and she felt nauseous. Her 26-year-old daughter, Alicia, also covered in gear, came out coughing.

"That mold," she said. "It smells like death."

Mold now forms an interior version of kudzu in the soggy South, posing health dangers that will make many homes tear-downs and will force schools and hospitals to do expensive repairs.

This was a major story from Pascagoula, Mississippi last week, as we reported 'live' from the area. We interviewed a contractor named Steve Dykes, who was clearing out "Uncle Bob's" house. Dykes made certain to inform KTKZ, and our audience, that the "black mold" will be a "post-Katrina" major player for the region.

Other than the respiratory health factors, insurance companies will NOT cover the damage caused by the mold. If home owners don't tear up ALL of their flooring, the mold will only continue to grow and eventually destroy any repairs made after the flooding. Leaving the owner with the reconstruction costs and labor once again.

Most individuals believe that bleach kills the "Black Mold", it doesn't. Home owners need to purchase case loads of ammonium chloride to rid their damp homes of the mold growth.

Another by-product is the smell. After the visit to Gulfport, Mississippi, I will never forget the stench that we politely call an odor. The smell of dead fish, dead chickens (Gulfport had a shipping contract for chickens), dead pets, and dead human remains was overwhelming. Add to the factor the smell of molds and you have an odor that will not leave the region for many, many months.