FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas -- Fort Bend County’s small army of mosquito-fighters hopes a change in the weather, or at least the wind, will bring an end to the recent resurgence of vicious mosquitoes.
"I thought that we had it made," said Fort Bend County Vector Control Supervisor Weldon Sheard of the assumed end to the mosquito season. "But it didn’t turn out that way."
Sheard said the county’s bug problem blossomed over the weekend. He says salt marsh mosquitoes arrived with a southerly wind: Brazoria and Galveston bugs blown Fort Bend’s way.
"Monday we were getting a call every 30 seconds. Two girls couldn’t answer the phone," said Sheard.
But since Monday, workers have spread throughout the county in mosquito-control trucks, spraying the areas where most of those complaints originated.
"Monday night it was so bad I had to stop two or three times to actually clear off the headlights," said mosquito-spray applicator Felix Pair. "I’ve been with the county four years and I’ve never seen it that bad."
Sheard said it has been the worst mosquito infestation in the county since Hurricane Ike in 2008.
Sheard said his crews plan to spray problem areas every night the rest of this week if the weather doesn’t change. He said they need at least 50-degree temperatures to kill off the bugs and let the Fort Bend mosquito control trucks finally park for the season. Or maybe all they need is a change in the wind.
"That cool front, if the wind goes good from the north, maybe it will blow it back where they came from," said Sheard. "That’s what I’m hoping anyway."
