Example Case: A Wooden Riverside House in Lom Sak, 2026, and a Musty Smell That Would Not Go Away

The following is an illustrative example based on situations that commonly occur after floods. It is not the account of a real person.

Auntie Somjai lives with her two grandchildren in a low wooden house in a community beside the Pa Sak River in Pak Chong subdistrict, Lom Sak. On the night of heavy rain in September 2026, flash flood water arrived in waves. She and her neighbors lifted the television, a small fridge and the rice bin as high as they could, but the sacks of unmilled rice stored under the house, the children's sleeping mattress and the long curtains were still half submerged.

Once the water dropped, she hosed out the mud, dried the mattress on the veranda and opened every window. Rain and sun kept alternating all week, so the wooden house never dried completely. By day five she noticed fluffy white and pinkish growth along the edges of the rice sacks and the corners of the mattress, while the lower wooden walls showed a line of black and green spots exactly where the water had stood. The younger grandchild sneezed and had a stuffy nose every morning, and the older one complained that one eye had been irritated and red since mud splashed into it while sweeping.

She took the older child to a doctor that same day and contacted the WHD team on LINE to ask what to do with the house. The first advice was not to spray immediately. It was to throw away the moldy rice and the soaked mattress, wash all the mud off the walls and get the house as dry as possible, and only then book disinfection spraying to finish the job.

The Lom Sak, Phetchabun Flood of 2026 (B.E. 2569): Facts from News Reports

According to a Daily News report dated 19 September 2026, heavy overnight rain sent a third wave of flash flood water downstream. The Pa Sak River reached 8.56 meters, 26 centimeters above its banks, flooding the Tha Kok Pho, Wat Thung Samut and Ban Rai communities in Pak Chong subdistrict, Lom Sak district, Phetchabun, affecting roughly 300 households (source: Daily News).

A quick note for anyone searching: the Pak Chong subdistrict in this article is in Lom Sak district, Phetchabun. It is a different place from Pak Chong district in Nakhon Ratchasima.

At national level, Thailand's Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation reported, as of 06:00 on 7 October 2026, that floods had affected 27 provinces plus Bangkok, covering 123 districts, 984 subdistricts and 1,154,875 households, with more than 3.1 million people affected (source: Government Public Relations Department). Post-flood mold in 2026 is therefore not just a Lom Sak problem but a challenge for homes across the country.

Flash floods are a particular concern for mold because they carry silt, leaves, branches and plant matter down from higher ground. That sediment is the natural home of soil fungi such as Fusarium. When it lodges in wall gaps, under raised floors and inside damp furniture, mold has food, moisture and warmth all at once.

What Is Fusarium, and Is It Dangerous?

Fusarium is a genus of filamentous fungi that is widespread in nature. It lives in soil, decaying plants and water, and on crops. Several species are well known to Thai farmers as causes of plant disease, such as wilt in vegetables and fruit trees, or the mold that spoils corn and other grains. On damp material or in a laboratory dish, Fusarium colonies are usually cottony and white, pink, salmon or violet, quite different from the black or green mold most people picture.

The question people search most is whether Fusarium mold is dangerous. For most healthy people, everyday exposure does not cause serious illness. However, this group of fungi can cause problems in specific situations:

• Fungal keratitis (infection of the cornea). This usually follows an eye injury involving plant matter, soil or twigs, and is also seen in contact lens wearers who do not care for their lenses properly. It needs prompt care from an eye doctor because it can affect vision.
• Nail infections, especially toenails of people who wade through water or wear wet boots for long periods.
• Skin and wound infections when cuts and scrapes stay in contact with mud and plant debris.
• Serious infections in people with very weak immunity, such as patients receiving chemotherapy for blood cancers or bone marrow transplant recipients. These patients should strictly avoid dust and mold as their doctors advise.
• Allergy and airway irritation from spores and fungal fragments in the air, a problem shared by many molds in flood-damaged homes.
• Mycotoxins in grain. Some Fusarium species produce toxins such as fumonisins, deoxynivalenol and zearalenone in moldy corn and cereals. These toxins are fairly heat-stable, so moldy grain should not be eaten or fed to animals.

In short, Fusarium is no reason to panic, but it deserves serious attention after a flood, especially in homes with children, older adults, people with chronic illness, or rice and grain stored indoors.

Where Does Fusarium Come From, How Does It Spread, and Why Do Floods Make Homes Moldy?

Mold does not pass from person to person like a cold. Instead, it causes problems through a few main routes:

1. Breathing in spores and mold dust. When mold grows on walls, mattresses, carpets or grain sacks and we scrub, sweep or move things without a mask, spores are released into the air.
2. Contact through wounds and nails. Wading, washing mud or hauling debris without gloves and boots exposes broken skin directly to soil fungi.
3. Soil or plant fragments entering the eye during high-pressure washing, sweeping or cutting up branches carried in by the flood.
4. Eating moldy food or grain, which may contain fungal toxins.

Floods make homes moldy quickly because mold needs moisture, food and warmth, and a house after a September or October flood has all three. Wood, fabric, paper, gypsum board, mattresses and seeds are all food for mold. The CDC notes that mold can begin to grow within 24 to 48 hours after materials get wet, so the longer a house stays damp, the more likely mold will appear on the walls.

In flash flood areas such as Lom Sak, the silt left behind adds another layer of risk, because soil and plant debris are where Fusarium naturally lives. The longer mud stays in the house, the more time mold has to grow and release spores.

Symptoms That May Be Linked to Post-Flood Mold: Coughing, Sneezing, Red Eyes, Nail Fungus, Slow Wounds

Fusarium has no unique symptom you can recognize yourself. The signs below are reasons to pay attention after living in a flood-damaged house, and a doctor should always make the diagnosis.

• Airways and allergy: frequent sneezing, a blocked or runny nose, a cough that will not stop after the water goes down, chest tightness, wheezing, or asthma that flares up indoors and improves elsewhere.
• Eyes: redness, pain, a gritty feeling, watering, sensitivity to light, blurred vision, or a white spot on the colored part of the eye, especially after mud, dust or plant matter got into it. See an eye doctor promptly and do not self-treat with eye drops.
• Nails: nails turning cloudy white, yellow or brown, becoming thick, brittle or lifting, especially toenails after days of wading.
• Skin and wounds: swelling, redness, warmth, pus, or a wound that does not improve with care; itchy rashes on hands and feet that soaked in water.
• After eating suspect food: nausea, vomiting, stomach pain or diarrhea after the flood. Stop eating that food and see a doctor if symptoms persist.

Important: if you have a high fever, calf pain after wading, red eyes with fever, yellow skin, reduced urine or difficulty breathing, go to hospital right away. These can point to other post-flood illnesses such as leptospirosis. This article is general information, not personal medical advice.

Who Is Most at Risk from Fusarium After the Lom Sak Flood of 2026?

• People with very weak immunity, such as cancer patients on chemotherapy, organ or bone marrow transplant recipients, and people on immune-suppressing medicines. They should stay away while mud is removed and moldy items are torn out.
• People with asthma, allergies or chronic lung disease, whose symptoms are easily triggered by mold spores.
• Young children and older adults who spend most of their time at home, sleep on the floor or on mattresses that may still be damp.
• Contact lens wearers helping to clean amid dust and spray. Switching to glasses for a while is wise.
• Farmers and people who work with soil, who clear plant debris, branches and silt after flash floods.
• People with diabetes, whose wounds heal slowly, and anyone with open cuts on hands or feet.
• Volunteers and builders exposed to mold dust for many days in a row.

If someone in the household is in a high-risk group, let healthy adults do the demolition while wearing an N95 mask, safety goggles, rubber gloves and boots, and have vulnerable family members stay elsewhere until the house is clean, dry and disinfected.

Where Fusarium Hides in a Home After the Water Recedes

• Lower sections of wooden and gypsum walls along the water line, on both the visible face and the hidden back.
• Under raised floors and between floorboards, where mud and leaves get trapped.
• Sacks of rice, corn, beans and animal feed that got wet or damp. Fusarium grows well here and may leave toxins.
• Mattresses, pillows, fabric sofas and carpets, which hold water inside and are very hard to dry.
• Curtains, clothes and cardboard boxes stored low or reached by wicking moisture.
• Drains in bathrooms and kitchen sinks, which stay slimy and wet.
• Wooden cabinets under sinks and food cupboards with swollen plywood.
• Plant pots, plant debris and silt left on balconies and yards.

A musty, earthy smell in a closed room can mean hidden mold behind walls or under floors.

Why DIY Cleaning Alone Is Not Enough When Mold Appears on Walls After a Flood

Cleaning your own home is the most important step and always comes first, but popular methods have limits worth knowing:

• High-pressure washing only removes mud but pushes water deeper into wood grain and walls. Without drying, mold returns, and the spray can blow spores into eyes and noses.
• Wiping with bleach only lightens stains on smooth surfaces but does not reach mold inside wood or gypsum. Mixing bleach with ammonia or acidic cleaners releases dangerous gas, so never mix them.
• Running fans helps drying, but strong airflow over active mold spreads spores through the house.
• Air fresheners or incense cover the smell for a while without dealing with the cause.
• Painting over mold makes walls look clean, but the mold keeps growing underneath and later blisters the paint.
• Sun-drying moldy rice and eating it is unsafe, because sunlight does not remove toxins that may already have formed.

What works is a sequence: discard soaked and moldy items, remove all mud, dry thoroughly, then disinfect the remaining surfaces evenly with a suitable product and equipment.

WHO and CDC Advice: Clean First, Then Disinfect

The World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention give consistent advice for homes after floods: remove mud and debris, throw away porous items that cannot be dried, wash hard surfaces with water and detergent, dry the building as quickly as possible, ideally within 24 to 48 hours, and then disinfect surfaces that were in contact with floodwater. Wear an N95 mask, gloves, goggles and boots while working.

Thailand's Department of Disease Control gives similar hygiene advice. Disinfection spraying is the finishing step, not a substitute for cleaning.

WHD Disinfection Spraying After the Lom Sak, Phetchabun Flood of 2026 with CHEMGENE HLD4H

The World Health Disinfection (WHD) disinfection service uses trained technicians who spray and/or apply ULV (Ultra Low Volume) fine mist, which reaches surfaces, gaps and corners more evenly than hand wiping. The disinfectant is CHEMGENE HLD4H, a medical-grade disinfectant from the United Kingdom containing Benzalkonium Chloride and Didecyldimethylammonium Chloride.

According to the service information, the product is stated to cover many viruses, bacteria and fungi, including COVID-19, RSV, influenza H1N1, H5N1 and hand-foot-mouth virus, with a claimed effectiveness of 99.99% and broad-spectrum action. The service page lists approvals or references from Thailand's Department of Medical Sciences, Mahidol University, NHS England and the EN 14476:2013+A2:2019 standard.

Being transparent about Fusarium: WHD's pages do not name Fusarium specifically. Fusarium belongs to the fungi group the product says it covers, and WHO and CDC guidance is to clean and then disinfect flood-contaminated surfaces. If you would like test data for this specific organism, please ask the WHD team directly. Spraying also cannot rescue materials that mold has already penetrated; those still need to be removed or discarded.

According to the company, customers include hospitals, schools, shopping malls, airports, offices, airlines, banks and residential buildings. A current promotion includes a free CHEMGENE spray bottle and WELLGIENIC wet wipes with the service, and a tax invoice is available.

WHD is based in Bang Khae, Bangkok 10160, and has no branch in Phetchabun. Upcountry jobs start with a consultation and assessment by phone or LINE using photos and floor area, then a suitable date is arranged. Same-day visits cannot be guaranteed, and pricing is given only after assessment. For lingering musty air, you can also ask about the complementary residential ozone disinfection service.

WHD's Post-Flood Spraying Process When Mold Is a Concern

1. Survey and assessment: the team asks how high the water rose, how long it stayed, what materials the house is made of, where mold or musty smells appear, and whether vulnerable people live there, using photos and video on LINE.
2. Mud removal and washing first: the owner or a cleaning crew removes mud, discards mattresses, carpets, grain sacks and other soaked or moldy items, washes hard surfaces and dries the house as much as possible.
3. Zoning: the home is divided into zones such as bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, under-floor space and storage, so nothing is missed.
4. Spraying: technicians spray and/or apply ULV mist with CHEMGENE HLD4H across walls, floors, cabinets, doors, handles and corners. People, pets and plants stay out of the zone during application.
5. Waiting and re-entry: according to the service information, wait about 30 minutes before using the space normally, always following the re-entry time the technicians give on site. Ventilate, and rinse food-contact surfaces with clean water before use.

WHD does not claim the treatment leaves no residue at all, which is why following the technicians' re-entry time matters.

10 Reasons to Book Disinfection Spraying After a Flood When Fusarium Is a Worry

1. Flash floods bring in silt and plant debris that harbor mold, and spraying helps treat washed surfaces more completely.
2. ULV mist reaches wall gaps, under cabinets and under-floor corners that cloths cannot.
3. CHEMGENE HLD4H is stated to cover viruses, bacteria and fungi, suiting homes where several germ groups mix after a flood.
4. It also helps reduce the risk from other germs carried by sewage and mud, not only mold.
5. The work is systematic, with zoning and a record of treated areas.
6. Trained technicians wear protective equipment, reducing family members' exposure to mold dust.
7. It is a good final step before children, older adults and people with chronic illness move back.
8. It suits wooden houses, concrete homes, shops, homestays, temples and community buildings. See the disinfection service page.
9. Tax invoices are available for shops, businesses and agencies.
10. You can consult before deciding on 065-556-6294 or LINE @whd268, and request product test data. See the CHEMGENE HLD4H page.

Before and After Disinfection Spraying

Checklist to Prevent Fusarium After the Phetchabun Flood of 2026

• Wear an N95 mask, goggles, rubber gloves and boots. Swap contact lenses for glasses.
• Mist moldy areas with water before removing them; never dry-sweep.
• Discard mattresses, carpets, cardboard and any grain or rice that got wet or moldy.
• Never mix bleach with ammonia or acidic toilet cleaners.
• If dirt gets in your eye, rinse with clean water, do not rub, and see a doctor if redness or irritation continues.
• Ventilate, and use fans or dehumidifiers once visible mold is gone.
• Watch lower walls and under-floor areas for at least two to three weeks.
• Clean wounds with clean water, cover them before work, and see a doctor if they swell.
• Store new rice and grain in sealed containers raised off the floor.
• Before spraying, put away food, dishes and toys; keep people, pets and plants out; return only at the time the technicians give.

Frequently Asked Questions: Fusarium After Floods and Disinfection Spraying

What is Fusarium mold?

A filamentous mold common in soil, plant debris and water. It is best known for plant disease, and in flood-damaged homes it can grow on wood, mattresses and grain.

Is Fusarium mold dangerous?

Usually not serious for healthy people, but it can trigger allergies and cause eye, nail and wound infections, and it is much more serious for people with very weak immunity. See a doctor for unusual symptoms.

What should I do about mold on walls after a flood?

Wear an N95 mask, gloves and goggles, wet the stain, wash hard surfaces with water and detergent, remove deeply affected material, dry the area, then disinfect. Do not paint over it.

Why is my eye red and irritated after cleaning up flood mud?

Dust, chemicals, bacteria or fungi from soil and plant matter can all be responsible. If you have pain, blurred vision or no improvement within a day, see an eye doctor promptly.

Will toenail fungus from wading go away on its own?

Usually not. Keep feet dry, change socks often and see a doctor for proper diagnosis and care.

Can I eat rice or corn that went moldy after the flood?

No, and do not feed it to animals either. Some molds, including Fusarium, produce toxins that cooking does not reliably destroy. Discard the whole sack.

Does disinfection spraying get rid of Fusarium?

The product is stated to cover fungi as a group, but WHD's pages do not name Fusarium specifically. Spraying treats washed surfaces; deeply penetrated materials must be removed. Ask WHD for test data.

Do I need to clean before spraying?

Yes, always. Mud and dirt stop the disinfectant from contacting surfaces properly, so spraying comes after mud removal, washing and drying.

When can we go back in after spraying?

According to the service information, after about 30 minutes, but always follow the technicians' on-site instructions and ventilate first.

Do you serve Lom Sak and Phetchabun in 2026?

WHD is based in Bang Khae, Bangkok, with no Phetchabun branch, but provides consultation and assessment for upcountry jobs by phone at 065-556-6294 and LINE @whd268 before scheduling a visit.

The Water Has Gone Down in Lom Sak. Let WHD Help You Finish the Job.

Remove the mud, wash and dry, then talk to WHD about disinfection spraying for your home, shop, homestay or community building.

View the Disinfection Service

Call 065-556-6294 · LINE @whd268

References

• Daily News, 19 Sep 2026, Pa Sak River flooding in Lom Sak: https://www.dailynews.co.th/news/6203049/
• Government Public Relations Department, DDPM data as of 7 Oct 2026: https://www.prd.go.th/th/content/category/detail/id/33/iid/548715
• World Health Organization: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets
• CDC Floods: https://www.cdc.gov/floods/
• Department of Disease Control, Thailand: https://ddc.moph.go.th/