Irene's flood waters are mostly gone, but basements are still wet and if they stay that way, mold and mildew will spread fast. YNN's John Wagner has the story.

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"This'll probably take six, seven months to dry up. He said it's nothing that's going to dry up in two weeks," explained Taylor.

The big worry for most homeowners is mold. Bleach and other cleaning products can be used to get rid of small quantities, but a big chunk of the fight is against humidity.

"If you don't control the moisture, and you disinfect to kill the mold, you're going to get the mold back as long as there is moisture there," said Stephen Capowski, director of environmental health services for Dutchess County. "It's not an easy process, it's going to take time and diligence."

Residents should first check to make sure their oil tanks didn't tip and leak oil. If that happened, a contractor would be needed. Small mold issues won't require an expensive service, but for some like renter Shawan Bunch, it's gotten out of control.

"It's all on the walls, it's submerged on the doors," said Bunch. "It's all downstairs in the basement and because the cracks we have in our apartment, it's submerged the air all up in the apartment."

But many renters like Bunch are at the mercy of their landlords for the cleanup. And without the option to move into another apartment, she's worried about what the mold will do to her kids.

"The kids pretty much get sick from it, one of my daughters have breathing problems," said Bunch. "It started out a little bit before, but now that the mold kind of sat in there with the water its kind of spread it much faster."

All of Irene's flooding is spreading mold fast.

"This is an occasion for a lot of elbow grease, there's no easy way out of it," said Capowski. "It's difficult, but with persistence it can be done and done successfully."