St. Johns County begins aerial assault on mosquito population

11:50 PM, Jul 7, 2012   |    comments
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ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- There's now an aerial assault on mosquitos along the First Coast. After all the recent rain, they are biting everywhere.

There's been a 35-percent increase in St. Johns County over the last two weeks alone. 

In St. Johns County, they amped up the helicopter patrols, armed with a material that kills mosquitos but doesn't harm people.

They started the air drops at 7 pm Saturday. They will continue night and day, through the weekend. 

Since the storms rolled through, mosquitos populations are on the rise. In Jacksonville, mosquito spraying will have to wait for a break in the wet weather to fight them.

"It certainly puts a damper on our operations. We can't be out spraying when it's raining", said Ken Roden of Jacksonville Mosquito Control.

Back at the St. Augustine Airport, low-flying helicopters will target areas the trucks can't get to, in hopes of killing what they can.

First Coast News