Officials mull options for dealing with post-hurricane skeeter swarms

HARLINGEN -- State and local leaders Wednesday planned to launch an aerial assault on the plague of mosquitoes that has erupted following last week's Hurricane Dolly.

The plan calls for planes to spray insecticide to kill swarms of mosquitoes that have risen from floodwater left behind by Dolly's foot or more of rain, officials said.

"Fundamentally, there is a health concern," said Emily Palmer, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services in Austin. "When you get standing water, they're still breeding."

Tuesday afternoon, officials from Cameron, Hidalgo and Willacy counties joined city leaders in a teleconference to request money from the state to pay for the aerial spraying program, said Garret Nelson, a spokesman for Cameron County.

"Part of it was what areas needed (aerial spraying) and what areas didn't and whether it was going to be aerial or ground spray or a combination," Palmer said.

"We're looking at it on a regional basis. We're looking at working with the counties and cities, both on the ground and aerial spraying."

Willacy County Commissioner Emilio Vera, the county's acting judge, called for "immediate" action in a Wednesday letter to state and federal officials.

"Our most serious and pressing need now is the secondary damage caused by the stagnant water from Hurricane Dolly," Vera wrote. "The infestation of floodwater mosquitoes needs immediate attention. Time is of the essence for emergency mosquito aerial spray. We are asking for immediate assistance to intervene to avoid vector-borne disease."

Tuesday, San Benito leaders asked for the state to launch an aerial spray campaign.

So far, though, state officials have no a timetable for when such an operation might begin, Palmer said.

"There are a lot of logistics," she said. "I can't think of anybody who owns a fleet of planes and we need the materials to be used."

The plan calls for a concerted effort to continue through much of the summer, said Nelson, the Cameron County spokesman.

"It's going to be an ongoing process that's going to go on for weeks," he said.

Aerial spraying is more effective than ground spraying, said Frank Torres, Willacy County's emergency management coordinator.

"Obviously, it's going to cover a lot of area a lot quicker," Torres said of the aerial approach. "You're going to be able to get to the larvae in the middle of the woods that you can't (reach) from the road."

Nelson assures there is no public health risk from aerial spraying.

"In the dosage that comes out it's not harmful to humans," he said.

In Sebastian, a hamlet about 14 miles northwest of Harlingen on U.S. Highway 77, mosquitoes bred in the floodwater that rushed into many homes, Willacy County Commissioner Aurelio Guerra said.

"There are swarms," Guerra said as county workers tried to clear ditches of floodwater. "If someone were to tell you, ‘I was covered by mosquitoes,' I'd think it's a figure of speech. But you're literally covered with mosquitoes. Your clothes turn dark. I have never seen it this bad."