I have a little public service announcement. I mentioned that I had two neighbors that lost vision in three eyes between them from the flood remediation last year and infections. I have not had time to verify this but I trust the source (his wife): one is in the hospital now and his wife says the doctors are now saying his infection is from a tick!? He is blind in both eyes right now and they are talking about spinal taps.
I will try to update with more/better information and this sounds ridiculous, but my point in posting incomplete information is simply this:
flood remediation is the nastiest, slimiest work you will ever see, full of hidden holes and broken boards,nails, sharp corners, heat, and bugs.
Tips I learned last year are:
always zip lock bag your phone and wallet. And key fobs.
Never wipe your eyes or face with muck-covered anything. You will be sweating profusely and it will be tempting to wipe your eyes clear all the time. Keep fresh bottled water and use it not only for drinking but also washing your face and any cuts or scrapes. Keep hydrogen peroxide and Neosporin or equivalent with you at all times and use it on any wounds that break the skin.
Use lots of bug spray. 'Swampgnat ' works better than 'off' in our area as the gnats are even worse than mosquitos. I never though about ticks until hearing about Ralf now.
Biting insects have been biting dying, soaked, skin rotted infected animals for a long time at this point. This isn't a convenience item.
I always keep a real first aid kit in the truck and went into it a couple of times last year.
Wear good quality muck boots with tall socks (over your ankles or they will blister badly). Take extra socks, as after the second day of sweat soaked feet you will start to blister and I can see how the stories of soldiers and foot rot happens quickly.
Get lots of thick work gloves and rotate them often. If you can find surgical gloves use them inside the thick ones. They all get so slimy so quickly sometimes it feels good to swap out.
Fishing shirts and cargo pants are stylish.
(Seriously though, if you are in a remote area you want most of this stuff ON YOU, and the pockets are critical).
I also keep a gun (air weight .38, none of the pocket autos will work in this soaked, muddy environment). l once saw looters coming up to our area in a boat from the river side...but really the gun is more for freaked out critters - when raccoons attack!
I also keep a knife on me at all times. You will find more uses than you can imagine. One with a fishing line catch is good as I used that cutter a lot.
You will also find things you want to keep, so again, pockets = good).
Finally, cotton undies...no bueno. Wear the slick workout jobs or your parts will punish you.
Good luck out there.
Good news for most is the rain water floods have much less muck. River water is just slimy as hell.