Thursday, June 11, 2009

Mosquitoes take over Suffolk City

SUFFOLK. - April showers bring May flowers. But in some parts of Hampton Roads, all that rain has also brought out the sting of Mosquitoes. The pesky little critters have particularly made their presence known in Suffolk city.

Heavy rains have left standing water behind. And that, coupled with the warm temperatures mean perfect breeding conditions for mosquitos.

Suffolk resident Kim Holland says she can not grill out or sit on her front porch in the evening without getting attacked by marauding mosquitoes.

"It is like the cousins, the nieces, the aunts, the grandma, the grandaddy, nephews. You see one there. You see one here. You see them in groups. They are in like colonies. They come out all together," she said.

Small wonder with standing water in ditches along her street and a discarded tire with water inside at the end of the block. All perfect breeding grounds for the pesky insects when the weather's warm. Treatment to scale back the mosquito onslaught is already underway with other city crews across Hampton Roads.

Penelope Smelser, Biologist with the Norfolk Health Department says, "When you've heavy rainfall you are going to have Mosquitoes laying eggs. All that's going to start up and you will have a bigger population of mosquitoes."

Smelser says it is about to get worse in a couple of weeks. Recent sampling helps her identify the types of mosquitoes under a microscope and their stages of development. She offers a few tips.

Smelser suggests you "eliminate standing water around [your] yard." She says, "look in every crack and crevice, behind sheds, under decks, places you might not look. If you've standing water you can not tip over, do your best to treat it with things you get from the hardware store, like mosquito dunks."

The product was handed out to Kim Holland who signed up for it at Suffolk City Hall. The mosquito dunks are also available at fire stations throughout the Suffolk city.

Ethel Dirtion plans to get the briquets, but for now is using insect spray.

"I keep plenty of it. I spray it all the time. I'm hoping it works. It gets 'em I tell you. I spray 'em it knocks them out," Dirtion laughed.

She says she also keeps a fly swatter handy too.

If you would like a Mosquito Briquet, you may pick one up at the following locations:

* Fire Station 1: 400 Market Street
* Fire Station 3: 1001 Whitemarsh Road
* Fire Station 4: 837 Lake Kilby Road
* Fire Station 5: 3901 Bridge Road
* Fire Station 7: 6666 O'Kelly Road
* Fire Station 8: 6235 Whaleyville Boulevard
* Fire Station 9: 300 Kings Highway
* Fire Station 10: 4869 Bennetts Pasture Road

source: http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_wavy_suffolk_mosquitos_take_over_20090514

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