TAMPA, Fla. — After what seems like never-ending rain, the sunshine is a relief for many, including Hillsborough County Mosquito Management crews.
Crews will now be able to use their helicopters to drop mosquito larvae-killing pellets which were grounded by the rain. They'll also be able to get crews out on the ground to spray adult mosquitoes.
"That rainfall we've seen translates to thousands and thousands of acres of mosquito habitat which means we're certainly keeping busy," says RJ Montgomery, director of mosquito management of Hillsborough County. "The mosquito life cycle in Florida from rainfall until they're flying around is about six days which means one week, two weeks of rain makes it hard to get behind the eight ball," Montgomery explained.
He says in the past week, more mosquitoes have been trapped than the previous week, meaning there are even more out flying around and biting you. Hillsborough County has nearly 30 traps across the county so they can collect, count, identify species and test for diseases. More than 40 species of mosquitoes live in the Tampa Bay area.
Although the number of mosquitoes is doubling because of the after-rain standing water, the good news is that no diseases have been detected in the area.
If you find that the number of mosquitoes in your area is becoming unbearable, contact mosquito control to do a spray.
Here are the phone numbers for mosquito control services in Tampa Bay area counties:
- Hillsborough: 813-635-5400
- Pinellas: 727-464-7503
- Pasco: 727-376-4568
- Manatee: 941-981-3895 OR 941-981-3896
- Polk: 863-534-7377
- Sarasota: 941-861-5000
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