Mosquitoes & Hurricanes

Living in sunny Florida is beautiful – most of the time. However, there are risks such as hurricanes. Hurricanes are devastating and bring damaging winds, storm surges, heavy rain and flooding. As if a hurricane is not bad enough itself, it often brings unintended consequences, such as an insurgence of mosquitoes.

Facts:

• While existing adult mosquitoes do not usually survive the high winds produced by a hurricane, the heavy rains and flooding lead to increased mosquito hatchings from the eggs that were laid prior to the hurricane.

• Most of the new mosquitoes that hatch after the hurricane passes are “nuisance mosquitoes” that do not generally spread viruses, but they are annoying biters and can hamper clean-up and recovery efforts.

• While most of the new hatchings are nuisance mosquitoes, it is possible to for Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to hatch and this species is known as the “yellow fever mosquito”. This species can transmit chikungunya, Zika and dengue virus and can be found in both suburban and urban areas.

• If flood waters do not recede, mosquitoes can breed and hatch on the flood waters too. Flood area mosquitoes can carry and transmit the West Nile virus.

• During the recovery and clean-up period, people are spending more time outdoors and face an increased risk of getting bitten, and worse, possibly infected with a mosquito-borne disease / illness.

• The insurgence of new mosquitoes and increases in the mosquito population can last two months or even more after the hurricane.

What Can You Do?

• Clothing - Wear long-sleeve shirts, pants and closed foot-wear during clean-up efforts and time spent outside.

• Stay Indoors - Stay inside, particularly during dawn and dusk, when mosquitoes are most active.

• Standing Water - Try to drain as much standing water as you can that you can control such as cans, garage cans, pet dishes, birdbaths, buckets, toys, flowerpot saucers, etc.

• Contact Mosquito Squad of Tampa Bay – Contact Mosquito Squad of Tampa Bay, your professional mosquito and biting insect control service provider. Mosquito Squad of Tampa Bay will treat your property and perform “Barrier Spray” treatments to instantly kill the mosquito and biting insect population and their solutions have a residual that will continuously release the insecticide for up to three weeks. Mosquito Squad will also treat standing water with larvicide / dunks to further control and reduce new hatchings.

During the stressful times following a hurricane, the last thing you need is to worry about being bitten by mosquitoes. Leave your mosquito problems to the professionals. So, contact Mosquito Squad of Tampa Bay at tampabay@mosquitosquad.com or (813) 502-0505 so they can help you “FIGHT THE BITE”.