The battle against mosquitoes has begun in South Florida following Hurricane Irma.
The insect is particularly a problem in the western suburbs. Heavy rains after the storm have not helped and there is one other factor helping mosquitoes breed.
"All the debris that is lying in people’s yards out front tend to collect a lot of mosquitoes," Broward County Mosquito Control Section director Anh Ton said.
Broward County crews are out in full force, not only fogging to kill adult mosquitoes, but spraying to kill the larvae.
The winds have been calm and it has not rained as of yet on Wednesday, so they have to get out there while they can.
Meanwhile, in Miami-Dade County, the numbers of nuisance mosquitoes are on the rise but there was one pleasant surprise.
"We have not seen an increase in the Zika mosquito. This can happen after hurricanes or storms," William Petre, with Miami-Dade Mosquito Control, said.
Believe it or not, too much rainfall may have flooded them out.
That could change in the coming days, but homeowners can help themselves.
"It is breeding in and around houses, not in standing water, but in any kind of container, buckets, pots, pans, discarded tires," Petre said.
Most spraying is done overnight, but spraying in parks and larvacide spraying of standing water to stop the life cycle can be done during the day.
Rainy and windy weather can make the job challenging.
"You have to be ready to go," Petre said. "So you are on stand by and you are ready to go, but you also have to be ready to cancel at very short notice."
This BBSNews article originally appeared on News | WPLG.