Floodwaters cause rise in mosquito population in coastal areas

Blood-thirsty villains are terrorizing Horry County this Halloween season.

As the Waccamaw River drops, the mosquito population is rising in malicious swarms, feeding and feasting on human and animal flesh.

Mosquito season begins in spring and usually tappers off in October or around the first frost, but recent historic flooding and warm temperatures intertwined to create the perfect breeding ground for the bugs to boom.

“Our mosquito season was very good this year because of the drought until the flood came,” Horry County spokeswoman Lisa Bourcier said.

Before the flood, county officials had almost no mosquito complaints. Now numerous calls about the pests are coming in, Bourcier said.

“All the rain we’ve had just provided the perfect habitat for them,” said Tom Garigen, Horry County Stormwater Department manager.

Garigen said officials are using their full force to deal with all the bugs.

Cooler temperatures early last week aided Horry County’s mosquito control team by slowing hatching, but the delay didn’t last as the weather warmed up and mosquitoes multiplied.

“It’s all weather-driven. Whatever Mother Nature throws at us, we have to take it on and deal with it,” James Brock, Horry County Mosquito Control Program manager, said of mosquito season.

Brock and his team investigate areas around Horry County as complaints come in, and he looks at landing rates to determine which areas need treatment.

Brock said he counted 20 to 25 mosquitoes landing on him per minute in the Lee’s Landing area on Thursday.

“If I’ve got 20 or 25 on me that I can see, just imagine how many are on my back that I can’t see,” Brock said.

He goes into infested areas, sets a timer for one minute, and serves himself up as lunch to gauge the severity of a mosquito problem in any particular area.

Ground spraying is warranted for landing rate counts of five mosquitoes or more a minute and aerial spray is needed for landing rate counts of 10 or more, officials said.

Brock usually tries to investigate each complaint that comes in on the mosquito control program’s hotline, but lately he’s been getting around 60 to 70 calls a day. He had 26 calls in July and 24 calls in August, which are usually peak months in mosquito season.

“The phone is ringing off the hook,” he said.

Once the record rainfall stopped earlier this month, the calls slowly trickled in, but then the hotline erupted with complaints around the time the river crested Oct. 8, and it hasn’t stopped ringing since.

The county has been combating the pesky plague by investigating the complaints daily then sending trucks or planes to spray at dusk.

“We’re looking at mosquito hot spots and taking them on as we need to,” Brock said.

Brock tries to group all the calls from the hotline together, then he investigates the areas to determine what measures should be taken.

Brock and his team have trucks with chemical spray misting behind them, providing merciful relief to humans and animals, but deadly venom to mosquitoes. The team has been fanning out to neighborhoods all over Horry County including Conway, Murrells Inlet, Briarcliffe Acres and Carolina Forest.

“The chemicals used for mosquito control spraying are approved by the EPA and pose minimal risk to humans or animals,” Bourcier said.

Aerial spraying has also happened in the Wampee Swamp community and Little River.

“It’s a contact kill,” Brock said of the chemical’s effectiveness against adult mosquitoes.

Brock’s team sprayed last week and will spray again in seven to 10 days and then they’ll spray more as needed as more batches pop up, Brock said. In May, the control team went out and treated many known problem areas with 180-day larvicide.

He’s also targeting football fields and other recreational parks.

“When you get a few thousand people grouped together at events, it’s a big buffet for mosquitoes,” Brock said.

Mosquitoes are hatching now and the population is expected to peak sometime early next week. Thousands can breed in just a few short inches of water, Brock said.

He’s hoping the upcoming cooler weather will slow down the population as his team continues abating the pests.

Residents can help combat these blood-thirsty bugs by getting rid of any standing stagnant water in their yards.

“Anything that holds water in your yard should be tipped over and dumped out,” he said.

That means summertime kiddie pools, birdbaths, or anything that’s collected water could be swarming with mosquito larva and should go.

He also suggested residents keep screens on their windows to keep them from getting inside.

Other mosquito control tips: wear long sleeves and pants, wear light-colored clothing and use insect repellent, Brock said.

He recommended that residents treat their dogs and cats for heartworm because mosquito bites can lead to heartworm issues. Pets should also not be left outside for long in the early morning and late afternoon, which are prime feeding times.

Livestock owners are also advised to get each animal a Triple-E vaccine, which costs $12 to $20, Brock said.

In the meantime, the county will continue battling the swarms by spraying until the cold weather eliminates the rest.

Georgetown County has seen its share of the pests as well, and its Mosquito Control Division has sprayed in East Bay, Willowbank, Country Club Estates, Indigo Apartments, Whites Creek, Greentown, Brick Chimney Road, and the west end of the city of Georgetown, and other areas, according to Jackie Broach, Georgetown County spokeswoman.

After significant rainfall, the Mosquito Control Division usually checks dredge spoil sites to determine the development stage of any mosquito larvae to head off the problem early. However, after the record rainfall, water levels were too high for inspectors to access the spoils sites, and inspections had to wait for water to recede, Broach said.

“We’re all in the same boat together. It’s no worse here [Horry County] than it is in Georgetown and other areas. We’re all battling the same enemy, and we try to work together when we can,” Brock said.

At least 61 species of mosquitoes exist in South Carolina, and 3,200 species of mosquitoes are present worldwide, according to information on the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control website.

Mosquitoes in South Carolina may carry West Nile virus and eastern equine encephalitis, DHEC officials said.

“Mosquitoes find us through the carbon dioxide we breathe out, lactic acid and other components in our sweat, scents such as perfume, hair spray and deodorant, and dark-colored clothing. Some kinds of mosquitoes bite at any time of the day, especially in the shade, while others bite at dawn, dusk, twilight or night,” DHEC officials said on the website.

This story was originally published October 26, 2015 at 10:28 AM with the headline "Floodwaters cause rise in mosquito population in coastal areas."