In February 2020, Wales and parts of England endured extremely heavy rainfall from Storm Dennis, following shortly after Storm Ciara. The central part of South Wales was particularly affected. The river over-topped its banks and caused flash flooding in several areas including Hay-on-Wye, Hereford, Ross-on-Wye and Monmouth.
Much of Hereford was flooded with homes inundated. Churches and leisure centres were opened to accommodate evacuated residents. The river at Monmouth reached its highest level ever recorded.
Many businesses along the River Wye were flooded, causing devastation as stock, furniture, possessions float away and carpets and other soft furnishings rot overnight. Damp in the walls can take weeks if not months to drain and the smell from sewerage and mould is highly unpleasant.
Molly’s Café had only just opened on the banks of the River Wye, in the popular destination of Symonds Yat. Offering honest café food to locals and visitors and a parent/toddler play room, the café was providing a great service to the local community and the owners. sisters Jade and Sophie Todd, were excited for the future ahead.
When the February floods hit Symonds Yat, Molly’s Café found themselves 6 foot under water. The devastation was enormous, but as soon as it was safe to return to the property, Jade and Sophie went about the clean up with true grit, determined to reopen as soon as they could.
Silt was removed, furniture and equipment returned and cleaned out and the environmental health officer signed them off as fit for opening the kitchen. However, there was still one ongoing problem they couldn’t resolve. Damp in the walls, mould and the resulting musty smell.
A local company, CorrMed, came up with the answer using UV air sterilisation. CorrMed have supported businesses around the world providing air sterilisation which kills virus and bacteria in the air and surfaces, as well as mould and fungus. The systems have a unique blend of technologies which also causes unpleasant odours to be eradicated, thus are successfully used in washrooms, sluice rooms, nursing homes, waste management sites and even for smoking rooms.
The CorrMed Air sterilisation is designed to be run 24 hours a day, producing a gentle background plasma which goes to work on the virus, bacteria, mould and odour. Mobile units are also available, which can be run for shorter periods of time offering a specific treatment and this is the approach used by Molly’s Café.
Jade and Sophie trialled the system in the play room and were so impressed by the resulting ongoing fresh air smell, they soon adopted the same technology within the main cafe, the kitchen and even in Jades home where she had the delights of a new puppy which had yet to be housetrained.
“honestly, it doesn’t matter how much you try to clean up a flooded property, you just can’t get rid of the musty smell from damp. We tried all sorts of chemical cleaners as well as leaving the doors and windows open as much as possible, but we really struggled to recover from the flood in the main play room.
When CorrMed arrived, a mobile unit no bigger than cricket bat in size was plugged in and left to run overnight. Clearly all the windows and doors were shut for security, and typically in a morning when opening up we’d be faced with ‘flood odour’, but not with the Air Sterilisation. The whole room smelt like fresh air. For us, it meant we could open up our play area much earlier, which was essential to help us recover from all our lost income.“
If your property is suffering from bad odours or unpleasant smells, take a look at the AIRsteril range of products or talk to one of our team about how we can help you.
