The City has waged a war on mosquitoes, pledging an additional $1 million to the mosquito treatment program to tackle the escalating issue across the Gold Coast.
The recent rain has provided ideal conditions for mosquito breeding and as such City crews have ramped up these activities and will continue them for the foreseeable future.
Mr Baker said the additional resources will be used to purchase more all-terrain vehicles and trailers, increase our aerial program, and continue our drone trials.
“We have dedicated all possible resources to getting this situation under control, and will continue to prioritise this work as we know it is a priority for our community right now,” Mr Baker said.
CEO Tim Baker said as well as fogging and aerial treatments our pest management teams would be checking and treating all known mosquito breeding areas throughout the City every day until the situation had eased.
“We know the mosquito breeding has ramped up over the past month and with little respite from the rain and humidity, this will be an ongoing problem,” Mr Baker said.
“We are committed to reducing numbers through our programs but we can all do our bit to reduce numbers and keep ourselves and families safe from these pests.
“Residents can help reduce mosquito numbers by emptying all containers that can hold water following rain.”
He said some of the less obvious places to look include in the water reservoir of self-watering pots, in some plants and on top of rainwater tanks.
Locations where mosquito treatments are taking place can be found at the City’s alerts page here: https://news.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/alert-section.
You can protect yourself from mosquitoes by:
- Limiting your time outdoors around dawn and dusk
- Applying mosquito repellents regularly
- Wearing loose fitting, light coloured protective clothing when outdoors
- Screening doors and windows or using mosquito nets or air-conditioning.
- Using mosquito coils.
You can help prevent mosquitoes breeding on your own property by:
- Disposing of all water-holding containers in your yard
- Emptying flower vases, pot plants and other containers which hold water, at least once a week
- Ensure house gutters are kept free of leaves and they drain freely, leaving no pools of water in low points
- Screen all openings to tanks, wells or other large water containers with wire gauze, not coarser than 1 millimetre aperture mesh.
