Mitchell's Mosquito-filled summer prompts drastic city, state responses

Jul. 10—MITCHELL — With the steady flow of moisture the Mitchell area has received this summer, it's created a haven for mosquitoes.

The abnormally high population of mosquitoes has impacted outdoor activity for some residents like Mitchell City Councilman Mike Bathke.

"I levitated at Hitchcock Park because they were so bad," Bathke jokingly said during an early July council meeting prior to requesting the Parks and Recreation Department make another round of citywide mosquito spraying.

Over the past three months, Chad Kendall has spent hours in his mosquito spraying truck hitting every pocket within city limits.

As an experienced Parks and Recreation Department official, Kendall has seen a fair share of mosquito-heavy summers. But none match the severity he's experienced this summer.

"What makes this summer one of the worst is that the high amount of mosquitoes have stayed consistent through the whole summer. In some bad years in the past, they've stayed thick for about a month. We're going into middle July and we've been spraying a lot, and they are still sticking around," Kendall said.

The late June rainstorm that flooded Mitchell has left lingering pools of standing water in fields, which Kendall said mosquitoes thrive in. Small ponds and wet areas still reeling from the flood have been added to Kendall's spraying map.

"I've been hitting a lot of water sources this year with all the rain we've had," Kendall said.

In the month of July, Parks and Recreation crews have already sprayed the city three times with about three weeks remaining before the end of the month. In past years with average mosquito populations, it's common for crews to spray twice per month.

Spraying for mosquitoes can become a costly venture for the city. According to Parks and Recreation Director, Kevin Nelson, each evening the city sprays for mosquitoes costs $2,000.

The increase in spraying has dented the city's mosquito control budget, but a timely $12,000 was recently awarded to the city and has brought some relief with a few months of summer on the horizon.

The large mosquito population has been felt throughout the entire state. It prompted the South Dakota Department of Health to offer community grants to help combat the spread of viruses mosquitoes can carry and transmit to humans with a single bite.

Mitchell was among over 200 cities to receive mosquito control grant funding from the state Department of Health.

Among the viruses mosquitoes can spread to humans is West Nile, which can be deadly in extreme cases. Despite the abnormally high mosquito population South Dakota has been experiencing, only one confirmed case of West Nile virus has been recorded, according to the Department of Health.

Since 2001, West Nile has infected over 2,600 people in South Dakota and resulted in 46 deaths.

Although the West Nile virus hasn't infected any Davison County residents thus far, Kendall is urging residents to be cautious and maintain mosquito mitigation over the next few months. Kendall has noticed female mosquitoes tend to be more prevalent in August, which he said carry the West Nile virus.

"I take it personal if I hear someone in Mitchell gets West Nile. I hope we can keep that number to 0 this year, as I do every year," Kendall said.

Mayor Jordan Hanson has resided in Mitchell most of his life, and he too has never experienced such a high mosquito population than what he's seen this summer.

While he's hoping the steady flow of city mosquito spraying will help reduce the population, Hanson said the string of heavy rains and flooding Mitchell has been hit with doesn't make him overly optimistic that mosquitoes will be depleted any time soon.

"We have the perfect conditions for mosquitoes to flourish. I'm hoping the amount of spraying we're doing is helping, but I don't think all the spray in the world could make them calm down at the rate we're going this summer," Hanson said.