August 23, 2007

• The mosquito activity is a 2 this week. Regular rain appears to have returned providing for very active mosquito control operations. Crews continue to treat standing water citywide. Also the Army Corps of Engineers conducted the first successful aerial larvicide application on portions of Craney Island. With the Air Force scheduled to be in town spraying for adult mosquitoes the short term mosquito forecast for looks to be improving.

• Rainfall last week averaged 1.57 inches; this was enough rain to fill containers around the homes and flood up some ditches city wide.
   
• 5 CDC style traps were set this week, with a total of 180 mosquitoes caught for an average of 36 per trap. CDC trap counts are about the same as last week. Trap counts are expected to increase early next week.
   
• 20 Omni-Directional Fay-Prince (OFP) were set this week, with a total of 352 tiger mosquitoes for an average of 18 per trap.

• We had 3 service requests this week. Some calls this week were to report standing water.

• Crews have been out inspecting and treating catch basins and back ditches.
• Crews also truck fogged approximately 550 acres this week.
• Mosquito Spray Information can be found on the Mosquito Hotline: 393-8666.

• The Army Corps of Engineers hired a local crop duster to apply granular larvicide to standing water on portions of Craney Island earlier this week. This was the first application of its kind on Craney Island and comes after a tremendous amount of work done by the Corps staff over the past two years. For more information about the mosquito control activities on Craney Island visit the corps web site at http://www.nao.usace.army.mil/Projects/Craney/Craney%20Mosquito/Homepage.asp
• The Air Force Aerial Spray Team from Youngstown Ohio will be in town next week. Areas in Portsmouth scheduled for spraying include Craney Island, Navy Fuel Terminal, Coast Guard Base, and portions of neighborhoods north of interstate 164.