PCBs Contaminate Flooded Subdivision

HIGHLAND, Ind. — About 120 residents of a flood-ravaged housing subdivision were barred from returning to their homes after cancer-causing PCBs were discovered at unacceptably high levels, officials said Thursday.

Test results shared by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency led the state to declare the houses off limits to residents who were hoping to return for personal items. The EPA said it found double the acceptable levels of PCBs.

PCBs, once commonly used as insulation in electrical transformers, were banned by the federal government as a cancer-causing substance in the 1970s.

Tests for PCBs were conducted after Highland officials reported seeing a sheen on floodwaters and suspected oil and gasoline may have leaked from submerged automobiles and fuel tanks.

Jerome Hauer, director of the Indiana Emergency Management Agency, said the EPA had not determined if the contaminants were present before the flooding.