Environment

First Came the Hurricane. Now Come the Mosquitoes.

Heavy rains and flooding create ideal conditions for swarms. For public health officials, the focus is on curbing the potential for viruses to spread.
Aedes Aegypti mosquito larvae swim in a container displayed at the Florida Mosquito Control District Office.Wilfredo Lee/AP

As residents in North Carolina recover from the massive flooding brought on by Hurricane Florence, they’re getting inundated by another unwelcome visitor. Swarms of them: In one video taken last week, a mother contemplates how to get her and her child out of a car surrounded by what appear to be wasps. Dozens cling on to their windows.

“They’re not wasps, baby, they’re mosquitoes,” the woman says when her child asks about them.