Mosquitoes ‘like helicopters’ – Richland County resorts to aerial spraying

(NOTE FROM EDITOR: Aerial mosquito spraying over Lower Richland delayed Friday Nov. 6, weather permitting, according to Richland County.)

Mike Daugherty has had it with the mosquitoes plaguing lower Richland County.

Daugherty, 37, lives on Bluff Road and has grown tired of the mosquitoes that have invaded since the flooding in October, taking advantage of standing water left in low-lying spots. He said they pester him when he sits with friends outside, buzzing in his ears and biting him a dozen or so times a night.

“They’re like helicopters,” Daugherty said. “They’re big.”

Richland County is doing something this week that it has never done before to combat the surging mosquito population bothering residents and outdoor workers. It is taking to the air.

Richland County Vector Control will apply aerial mosquito treatments Thursday at dusk to about 114,000 acres in lower Richland County, Vector Control Director Tammy Brewer said.

Brewer said the county measures mosquito populations with “landing rate” counts that entail a worker going to a site and counting how many mosquitoes land on him or her. Scientific measurements involve a person extending their arms – and waiting.

Brewer said landing rates in lower Richland County have reached more than 60 per minute, far more than the normal rate of four or five at this time of year.

Other areas of Richland County also have high rates. Northeast Richland County’s highest landing rate was 38, Brewer said, and the highest landing rate along the Broad River floodplain, north and northwest of downtown, was 20.

Richland County doesn’t measure the mosquito population within the city limits of Columbia, Brewer said. Neither does the city, said David Hatcher, a city housing official.

Brewer said warm weather this fall and floodwaters have contributed to the population growth. Psorophora mosquitoes, which thrive in floodwaters and are “very aggressive,” have been especially prevalent, Brewer said.

Columbia doesn’t have spray trucks, but has bumped up its larvicide program, with code enforcement officers looking for standing water and putting out larvicide in problem areas, Hatcher said.

Brewer said the county has used larvicide and some truck spraying. But the problem has still gotten out of hand in lower Richland County, she said.

“The calls were coming in more and more, and we were looking and seeing that we were not able to get control of the population,” she said.

Daugherty said he welcomes the aerial treatment. Road workers in lower Richland County probably won’t mind it, either.

Richard Boatwright, a South Carolina Department of Transportation worker, said the mosquitoes have sometimes made his work site on Lower Richland Boulevard feel like a swamp.

“You can’t stand by the truck and talk too much before you’re ready to leave,” he said.

Earl Moore, who also works at that site, said he has to close the doors and windows of his crane before eating lunch inside.

“They’ll tear you up,” he said.

Mosquitoes, infamous for transmitting the deadly West Nile Virus to humans, also can transmit the potentially deadly heartworm disease to pets.

Dave Ruff, 61, carried a flyswatter during his visit to the Columbia Dog Park off Shop Road on Wednesday, saying he would swat pests that bothered his Weimaraner.

“The flies are bad out here, and the mosquitoes are bad. They’re terrible,” Ruff said. He said he treats his dog with preventative heartworm medicine.

Will the aerial spraying help?

He hopes so.

Aerial applications have been used effectively in recent years in Texas to stem West Nile Virus outbreaks.

Dibrom, the product used in the spraying, is designed to affect mosquitoes but not people, pets or beneficial insects, the release said. Richland County has applied to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a reimbursement for the aerial mission’s cost, Brewer said.

Though residents don’t need to take any special precautions during the treatment, area beekeepers are urged to cover their hives, the release said. The planes will apply 1.5 tablespoons of treatment per acre, the release said.

Richland County and the state Department of Health and Environmental Control are advising residents to take steps to reduce mosquitoes’ breeding grounds on their property, including emptying any containers – pool covers, tires, pots, pet bowls and more – that could hold standing water.

Removing debris from gutters and trimming back thick shrubbery and overgrown grass also helps, according to a DHEC news release. It takes as few as five days for water in containers as small as a bottle cap to become active breeding sites for mosquitoes, according to DHEC.

DHEC also advises wearing insect repellant and light-colored, long-sleeved clothes when going outside.

County residents with questions about the spraying can contact Vector Control at 803-576-2425 or the Richland County Ombudsman at 803-929-6000.

This story was originally published November 4, 2015 at 6:23 PM with the headline "Mosquitoes ‘like helicopters’ – Richland County resorts to aerial spraying."