Severe drought followed by massive amount of rain is cause for grueling mosquito season

Reporter: Nicole Lauren
Published: Updated:
FILE - In this Jan. 18, 2016, file photo, a female Aedes aegypti mosquito acquires a blood meal on the arm of a researcher at the Biomedical Sciences Institute in the Sao Paulo's University in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The CDC is working with Florida health officials to investigate what could be the first Zika infection from a mosquito bite in the continental United States. They said Tuesday, July 19, 2016, lab tests confirm a person in the Miami area is infected with the Zika virus, and there may not be any connection to someone traveling outside the country. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)
FILE – In this Jan. 18, 2016, file photo, a female Aedes aegypti mosquito acquires a blood meal on the arm of a researcher at the Biomedical Sciences Institute in the Sao Paulo’s University in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The CDC is working with Florida health officials to investigate what could be the first Zika infection from a mosquito bite in the continental United States. They said Tuesday, July 19, 2016, lab tests confirm a person in the Miami area is infected with the Zika virus, and there may not be any connection to someone traveling outside the country. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)

Feel itchy? Mosquitoes are so bad right now because we’ve had the perfect weather for swarms to hatch.

For 30 minutes our WINK News crew toured Lee County looking for those breeding grounds.

Mosquito control says this season is way worse than the last and when our reporters landed on Pine Island they saw just how big of a problem it really is.

Severe drought and an onslaught of rain is the cause for what is now a grueling mosquito season.

“When you get that massive amount of rain over that dry salt marsh that’s already loaded with trillions of mosquito eggs you run into problems,” said Lee County Mosquito Control’s, Eric Jackson.

But the major problems exist in remote areas and the only way to access them is by helicopter.

“There are places where you have homes that are right next to massive breeding grounds just getting access into those places and to treat all those areas is very difficult,” Jackson said.

As our crew was in the air it was calm and quiet up in the sky but as they approached Pine Island they were met by thousands of mosquitoes who have claimed this area as their breeding ground.

“This is where we have massive amounts of mosquitoes coming out,” Jackson said.

A war zone for bugs is the best way they describe it.

“These mosquitoes move right into those developments so they can get blood meals,” Jackson said.

With the help of the chemical controls that are sprayed the choppers can fight the bite from the sky.

“We know people are dealing with a lot of mosquitoes… if we weren’t doing what we’re doing right now it would be far worse,” Jackson said.

You’ll see these helicopters typically all over the county, but the areas where they are frequently spraying are down the coast from Boca Grande to Bonita Springs.

If you would like to request a mosquito spray service in your neighborhood you can click on one of the links below based on what county you live in.

Lee Couty Mosquito Service

Collier County Mosquito Service.

Charlotte County Mosquito Service

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