Augusta is home to 22 species of mosquitoes -- and Fred Koehle knows them all.
"The Culex variety is popular," he said, "but another one we see a lot of is aedes albolopictus."
As Augusta's mosquito control officer, Mr. Koehle's job is to kill the bothersome insects. Lately, he said, recent rains have the enemy out in force.
"Anytime you have these long dry spells, and then all of a sudden you get lots of rain, you're going to have a humongous mosquito hatch," he said.
An extended drought left millions of eggs just waiting for enough moisture to hatch.
"The mosquitoes we have in this area lay eggs that can be dormant as long as four years," Mr. Koehle said.
Sudden rains two weeks ago created a huge surplus of mosquitoes -- and a flurry of complaints.
"They've really started to pile up -- and if you put it on the calendar, it's the rain a week and a half ago," Mr. Koehle said. "And with more rain we got last week, it will be worse next week."
Augusta has five mosquito control trucks -- one of which is broken.
"We do have a new one ordered," he said. "So within the next week and a half, we'll have five operators out there using five trucks."
Columbia County doesn't have a mosquito control department and receives only occasional complaints, Emergency Services Director Pam Tucker said.
The county's Roads & Bridges Department puts larvacides into many retention ponds and drainage areas as a preventive measure, she said.
Reach Rob Pavey at 868-1222, ext. 119, or rob.pavey@augustachronicle.com.
Comments
While most lotions designed to protect children will keep mosquitoes away, if you spray an area with dilute mouthwash about 10 minutes before you sit outside, you'll be surprised at the results. Spray the ground, seats, table tops(and bottoms), bushes, posts, side of house, ... everywhere. Give the smell a chance to die down, then sit in comfort. It lasts a very long time. Most of the night. It's an affordable area repellent that won't poison you.
Also, bats are the best mosquito deterrent there is. One bat eats something like 2000 mosquitoes per hour. Although you don't want them in your house, having some bat houses in trees is a great way to keep the mosquito population down near your house.
Any particular brand of mouthwash, Patricia?
Look at the title of this article. Haven't we known this since third grade? I would think there are more newsworthy articles to print than "rain brings out mosquitoes."
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