‘Unprecedented’ mosquito boom adds new layer to Ada County flood emergency

Ada County’s Mosquito Abatement District has been added to the county’s local disaster declaration, officials announced in a news release Tuesday.

Prolonged flooding along the Boise River has “created an unprecedented existence of mosquitoes in the Treasure Valley.,” the news release reports, predicting “a potential epidemic level of West Nile Virus due to the abundance of larvae already in the valley.”

“Even though the river flows are not low enough to evaluate where the problems areas will be, Ada County is being proactive in this insect fight,” officials said in the release.

Adding the mosquito abatement district to the emergency declaration will open up the district’s budget for emergency actions such as aerial spraying, officials said. The district is researching options for aerial spraying of larvacide, a tactic never before used in Ada County, according to the release.

The Local Flood Disaster Emergency was declared in late March, and will remain in effect until terminated by Ada County commissioners.

This story was originally published June 13, 2017 at 10:50 AM with the headline "‘Unprecedented’ mosquito boom adds new layer to Ada County flood emergency."