GALVESTON, Texas—John Marshall has declared an all-out war.

The end of the summer’s long dry spell means all the little mosquito eggs lying harmlessly dormant up and down the Gulf Coast are buzzing to life at once, creating airborne armies of bloodsucking pests.

Marshall, Galveston County’s top bug killer, has mounted a countywide air and ground attack.

He said the spraying from eight trucks and an airplane should provide a measure of relief by this weekend, but it could take up to two weeks to prevail over the enemy.

“We’re only set up to do normal mosquito control,” said Marshall, director of the Galveston County Mosquito Control District.

“We’re not set up to go out and do the great big fight in one night. It takes us several nights to go out and catch up.”

The district received 800 requests for spraying Monday. Normally, a trickle of calls on the request line helps Marshall determine where his surveillance teams have missed a mosquito infestation.

But this week, don’t bother calling. All of the district’s resources are sweeping the entire county.

That’s welcome news to Jerry Hyatt, who lives at Terramar Beach on the West End of Galveston Island.

“I live on the bay side and I can’t even sit on my deck,” Hyatt said. Content-Disposition: form-data; name=”keywords”

John Marshall has declared an all-out war.

The end of the summer’s long dry spell means all the little mosquito eggs lying harmlessly dormant up and down the Gulf Coast are buzzing to life at once, creating airborne armies of bloodsucking pests.

Marshall, Galveston County’s top bug killer, has mounted a countywide air and ground attack.

He said the spraying from eight trucks and an airplane should provide a measure of relief by this weekend, but it could take up to two weeks to prevail over the enemy.

“We’re only set up to do normal mosquito control,” said Marshall, director of the Galveston County Mosquito Control District.

“We’re not set up to go out and do the great big fight in one night. It takes us several nights to go out and catch up.”

The district received 800 requests for spraying Monday. Normally, a trickle of calls on the request line helps Marshall determine where his surveillance teams have missed a mosquito infestation.

But this week, don’t bother calling. All of the district’s resources are sweeping the entire county.

That’s welcome news to Jerry Hyatt, who lives at Terramar Beach on the West End of Galveston Island.

“I live on the bay side and I can’t even sit on my deck,” Hyatt said.

“I can’t walk out to the bird feeder without having my legs completely covered with them.”

Trucks were spraying in League City on Tuesday night and headed into Dickinson, Marshall said. During the weekend, they worked along the state Highway 6 corridor.

The airplane sprayed the West End of the island duing the weekend and Bolivar Peninsula on Monday.

It takes up to 10 days to reach the entire county. Because trucks spray street to street, it takes longer to reach the county’s growing residential areas than it has in the past.

It takes two or more nights to spray League City, a task completed in one night just five years ago, Marshall said.

Trucks will probably spray Texas City and La Marque on Thursday night, weather permitting, and return to the island for Saturday night.

Marshall said his crews will work two out of three days on the holiday weekend.

But the enemy is persistent, and sporadic rainfall and even tidal changes can lead to the hatching of newly spawned eggs, leading to new waves of mosquitoes in areas that have already been sprayed.

“The whole Gulf Coast is covered up,” Marshall said. “I was talking to my sister districts, and they’re all scrambling too, trying to catch up with these things. Hopefully, by the weekend it will be better. I won’t say they’ll be gone, but hopefully they’ll be better.”