Households should not eat or compost vegetables harvested from flooded gardens Photo: Matic Zorman / Maison Moderne

Households should not eat or compost vegetables harvested from flooded gardens Photo: Matic Zorman / Maison Moderne

The health ministry warns not to eat vegetables from gardens that were flooded during the torrential rainfall earlier this month as they may be contaminated from wastewater.

Heavy rainfall on 14 and 15 July caused unprecedented flooding in Luxembourg, leaving streets, homes and businesses under water. Insurers estimate damage at €120m.

As canalisation overflowed, the floods contained sewage but also water from oil cisterns or septic tanks, the health ministry said in a statement published on Tuesday. This left the water and the soil it permeated potentially contaminated with micro-organisms or chemicals.

“It is difficult to evaluate the level of contamination of vegetables that survived the floods,” the ministry said, urging people with private gardens that were flooded not eat or compost their harvest.