Seminole County Mosquito Control will conduct aerial spraying Friday night to help cut down on the number of mosquitoes following Hurricane Matthew.

  • Traps that normally catch up to 60 mosquitoes a night are now collecting 1,000 or more
  • Aerial sprays are targeting mosquitoes that are carrying non-Zika dangerous diseases

The storm caused floodwaters to rise and with it the mosquito population.

Traps that typically catch 30 to 60 mosquitoes per night are now trapping 1,000 mosquitoes or more.

The county has been using ground measures since Hurricane Matthew to cut down on the population, but the mosquito count still remains high.

Officials hoping aerial treatments will get areas that they can’t get by ground.

The mosquitoes they are targeting are not the ones that carry Zika, but other dangerous diseases.

“These are our floodwater species, they carry other virus diseases (like) West Nile, Eastern Equine Encephalitis, those types of viruses these types of species carry, and those are the ones we are seeing in very high abundance in our trap counts,” said Seminole County Mosquito Control Program Director Gloria Eby.

Aerial spraying will take place in eastern portions of the county: Lake Harney, Chuluota, Geneva and Black Hammock.

It will start Friday around 8 p.m. and will continue until midnight.

Mosquito Control says the product used in this spraying poses no risk to residents.