My mom's apartment is right below Addicks, near I-10 and Eldridge (she did get out).

The first floor is obviously flooded, but fortunately it's just the garage. Living areas are on the second and third floors, so most of her belongings are high and dry. However, it's going to be flooded for a good while longer as they continue to release water.

So the question is--by the time she's able to get back in there to go through her belongings, will the mold and mildew from the floor below have contaminated items on the floors above? I'm envisioning a scenario where she's going to be out too long to save anything.

Mold needs water or humidity. It will depend on what is saturated or not. It won't grow where water doesn't soak.

Without power (read: air conditioning), I just figured the humidity would promote growth from all of the moisture that got into the first floor.

But I have zero experience in this area, so I'm just trying to get an idea of what we can look forward to when we can get back in there. Without actually knowing, I'm fully expecting the worst after what might be a couple of weeks of sitting in the water.