NEW IBERIA, La. (KLFY) – Recent heavy rain across Acadiana has local mosquito abatement departments in high gear.

I’m sure we’ve all seen the trucks driving through our neighborhoods spraying that mist in the air to kill mosquitoes.

It has proven effective, but in Iberia Parish, they’ve taken their fight to the air

“These are the chemical atomizers within the spray system and these spin at a very high rate so that as the chemical, through a pressurized system, it aerosols into a very very fine mist”, Iberia Parish Mosquito Control Executive Director, Herff Jones said.

Jones says the aerial sprays are part of their operational steps to take care of juvenile and adult mosquitoes.

“From the air, there are obstructions to getting to that target and there’s also obstructions from the ground. So, the combination of those two types of available platforms to treat for adult mosquitoes increases the success that we have

That success will be needed now and the near future as Jones and staff have detected a population increase in the Southern House Mosquito; the primary transmitter of the West Nile Virus.

“When we have an elevation in those numbers we take extensive measures to make sure we suppress those populations.”

You can do your part at home by removing standing water. Remember it only takes a small about of water for mosquitoes to breed hundreds.