Flooding Sure Sign Of Mosquitoes

This year’s floods have created ideal breeding conditions for mosquitoes.

The floods left pools of stagnant water dotting lowlands from Benton City to Richland, said Steve Ingalls, manager of the Benton County Mosquito Control District.

Ingalls took an aerial survey Thursday. “Compared to other seasons, we’ve got more standing water,” he said.

One female mosquito lays about 4,400 eggs in a month, and the young can emerge ready to bite within five days.

The only consolation is that only the females bite.

“We’re just happy the flood came in February rather than now,” Ingalls said. A later flood would have left more water for that first batch of mosquitoes.

The mosquito district generally covers the irrigated areas of Benton County plus the Mabton and Grandview areas of Yakima County.

The district began in 1970 after an outbreak of encephalitis, a brain inflammation that in one form is transmitted by mosquitoes.

District workers find stagnant pools and spray them with insecticide.