Hungary invaded by bloodthirsty mosquitos

Hungarian disaster management authorities are trying to do their best on hundreds of hectares in 150 settlements and by even applying chemical clearing in the Szigetköz (Little Rye Island) to get rid of them but they had little success yet.

Authorities try to do their best even in extreme weather conditions

According to a statement of the National Directorate General for Disaster Management (NDGDM), they have already fought against mosquitoes in 300 settlements and on 158 thousand hectares since April 30 – reported index.hu. In the last couple of weeks, they received hundreds of requests for mosquito clearing, and they try to do their best. According to the authorities, an extremely high number of mosquitoes

are to be expected even in the next few weeks

but they tirelessly work to clear the most infected areas in:

• seven districts of Budapest (near or close to the Danube river)
• settlements near the Danube and the Drava rivers
• Fejér, Tolna, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg, Vas, and Bács-Kiskun counties
• Szigetköz (Little Rye Island)
• the area of Baja and Mohács
• the neighbourhood of Lake Tisza

Authorities said that the reason behind the many mosquitoes hatched in Hungary this summer are the massive spring floods on the rivers, the rainy May and the warmth that arrived suddenly. Furthermore, from last Wednesday to last Sunday, all aerial clearings had to be stopped because mosquitoes did not come out until evening and, based on the Hungarian aeronautic rules, they cannot work in the dark. 

Therefore, many aerial clearings have been postponed in settlements of the Dunakanyar/Danube Bend, in Kaposvár (Somogy county) and near Lake Balaton. However,

ground operations were accomplished

in the settlements of the Little Rye Island, Csepel Island and Csongrád county. Moreover, authorities organised biological clearing to reduce the number of larvas on the flood plains of the Danube and Tisza rivers.

Rats and mosquitoes

We reported last summer that there are mostly 50 different species of mosquitoes native to Hungary that are about to retire into hibernation for the winter, but there are three new additions from abroad. These latter three are causing a lot of concern, as they might be the start of a new epidemic,

bringing viruses like the Zika.

Not only with mosquitoes will Hungarians struggle this summer. As we reported before, at the beginning of May, the intense and official deratization in four districts of the Hungarian capital (V., IX., XIII., XX.) started. This is because, in the last ten months, more than ten thousand (10,414) phone calls or e-mails arrived for the organisation responsible for the procedure. The

increase of rats started in 2011

but became problematic in the last few months when several citizens posted pictures about dead animals on the streets, and even from a kindergarten which had to be closed for a few days. According to reports,

the government of the capital did not alarm the necessary organisations

about the rapid increase of rats until October 28, 2018, when it was already a problem.

Source: index.hu