A multimillion-dollar war against mosquitoes is underway in Florida after Hurricane Ian
Hordes of mosquitoes have proliferated in Ian's floodwaters. Planes are dropping pesticide over hundreds of thousands of acres to control the insects.
State and local officials are waging a multimillion-dollar war against the bloodsucking insects — which are known to spread diseases like West Nile virus and St. Louis encephalitis — as they try to keep residents safe and prevent the voracious insects from slowing down the recovery crews working to fix power lines and rebuild infrastructure.
"The mosquitoes are out there, and they’re biting," said Eric Jackson, the deputy director of the Lee County Mosquito Control Division. "It is just a constant effort to knock down as many of those flying, adult mosquitoes as fast as we can."
After the initial devastation from a hurricane or flood, other threats follow, including bacterial infections, respiratory diseases and illnesses spread by pests that proliferate in standing water. Mosquitoes are an expected, annoying and sometimes dangerous secondary consequence of a storm, one that can hinder rebuilding and raise the risk of an outbreak if left uncontrolled.
"Imagine a couple thousand coming at you. That’s the big concern after hurricanes and large flooding events," said Daniel Markowski, a technical adviser for the American Mosquito Control Association. "The sheer number of mosquitoes can make any daily life activity horrendous."
“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
Volkonski wrote: ↑Sun Oct 23, 2022 1:46 pmA multimillion-dollar war against mosquitoes is underway in Florida after Hurricane Ian
Hordes of mosquitoes have proliferated in Ian's floodwaters.
Not just mosquitoes are an issue due to the floodwaters. Highly Pathogenic Avian Virus is also a huge issue. Because of the abundant water, wild waterfowl are able to land and forage for food in places they don't normally occur. I know someone who has lost virtually all her poultry (about 40 birds) to HPAV. Her entire flock will be culled, and no animals allowed in or off her property for at least 30 days.
Approximately 30% of horses which contract West Nile Virus will die or need to be euthanized due to poor prognosis. Florida is the 3rd largest state in terms of horse population. Mosquitoes are also a vector for transmission of Eastern Equine Encephalitis, which has a mortality rate of at least 70% in equines.
All in all, floods from hurricanes are disasters not just because they destroy houses and infrastructure.
Volkonski wrote: ↑Mon Oct 24, 2022 10:39 am
Did not know that about horse diseases after floods.
The horses are bad enough (there's approximately 100,000 Thoroughbreds in FL), but the possible devastation of commercial and backyard flocks of poultry is frightening. ALL birds must be culled if the HPAV is found, and no new birds on the property for at least a month.
Chilidog wrote: ↑Tue Oct 25, 2022 12:10 am
Check out the national radar. There is a heck of a front right now from San Antonio up past tinder Bay Canada.
2022-10-24_23.27.19.jpg (122.25 KiB) Viewed 585 times
neonzx wrote: ↑Thu Nov 10, 2022 5:19 am
Goofs. Why do they string up traffic lights like they are decorating for Xmas? We don't do them like that on the FL west coast.
How else would they do them on a 6 or 8 lane road?
We get a lot of wind here in Colorado. The traffic signals that are strung across the road have two cables: one from which they hang, and another at the bottom to keep them from blowing in the wind. It usually works pretty well. They have yet to fix the problem when there is wet snow sticking to the lense and you can't see the signal.
Avatar was a photo I took by Killary Fjord in 2005. Killary Fjord is in Northern Connemara, Ireland.
We’re in a La Niña year here, not supposed to rain much. I wonder if they misgendered our year?
We had two days of rain, one of which covered the eclipse and the other of which brought flash flooding and downed tree limbs. Not very ladylike behavior we starved because Uber eats couldn’t get to us, all roads to our house were flooded. It’s a good think my state is solid blue; dont think anyone would have waited in line to vote with 60 mph gusts.
FiveAcres wrote: ↑Thu Nov 10, 2022 6:50 am
They have yet to fix the problem when there is wet snow sticking to the lense and you can't see the signal.
I remember when that became an issue. Sticking snow wasn't an issue with the older lights because the heat from the lights would melt the snow. LED lights don't melt the snow!
Dad is getting smacked with a lots of snow tonight. There was what looked like about 12-18 inches dropped over night. Supposed to continue until the wee hours of the morning.
Bismarck ND, Morning of 11/10/22
Bis111022.jpg (39.66 KiB) Viewed 304 times
The system has been circling around the state since late last night, just dropping snow, blowing some wind. And yes, there are crazy people out there driving in this crud.
“What is better ? to be born good or to overcome your evil nature through great effort ?”