How Hurricanes Lead to a Surge in Mosquito Problems: What You Need to Know
Mosquitos need only one thing to thrive in life, and that is water. And what do hurricanes bring with them? Yes, that would be water. If you have ever wondered why the mosquitos seem to never stop multiplying after a hurricane, this is how the weather condition causes a surge in the insect population.
Hurricanes and Mosquitos
The good news is that mosquitos are bad at staying in the air during high winds that hurricanes bring. They don't tend to survive through harsh storms. But the bad news for everyone is the water brings about the ultimate conditions for the eggs from the last season to hatch. Let's break that down a bit.
Mosquitos Love Water
There are two main types of mosquitos. Adult floodwater mosquitos need standing water to breed and to lay their eggs. After a rainfall, when there are puddles everywhere, and all of your lawn furniture has a nice little pool of water, mosquitos go crazy. Any standing water-even a few tablespoons-is enough for mosquitos to lay their eggs. When it floods again, those eggs hatch, and you are parents to a host of adult mosquitos in under two weeks.
The other kinds of mosquitos are also happy about the wet conditions because they make their habitat with all the freshly created debris everywhere. They also lay their eggs in stagnant water, which only need a few days to hatch.
Hurricanes Bring Storms and Water
If you think of where a hurricane hits and what it does, it's all about the water. From additional and sometimes constant storms to the water the high winds throw on land, there is an endless supply of water.
With the storms also come people either not having the time or energy to check their yard to drain all of those areas water collected. Mosquitos appreciate this and take advantage as much as they can.
This is why you see such a surge around two weeks after a hurricane. This is also the time to be extremely careful when you go outside. Those mosquitos could carry diseases and viruses, but since the efforts of the community are on rebuilding and cleaning up after the storm, there may not be medical attention available for something like a vector-born illness.
Treat the Problem Early
Once you have assessed your property and made sure the important things are in order, you want to think about pest control services to make sure when those couple of weeks are up they don't result in your yard being covered in a cloud of mosquitos. It may not be the first thing on your list, but it should be on there. The professionals can even give you a consultation so you know what you can do immediately to try to reduce the chance of the bugs taking over your yard.
Getting through a hurricane isn't something you look forward to, but you also don't want to get out of it okay and then be covered in mosquito bites from head to toe. Know that if there is a hurricane, mosquitos will follow, so you can prepare for the aftermath of the storms.
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