When dealing with excessive flooding, you worry about your family, your house, your pets, and their safety. The last thing you are thinking about is a pest problem. However, in areas that have been inundated with massive amounts of rain, such as southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi, pest control is at the forefront in getting their homes back to normal.
The pests and insects that are displaced during floods do not just disappear. In fact, they relocate, just like we would, but in seemingly larger numbers, as entire colonies could spring up in new spots. Ants, for example, will cluster on top of the water until they find a dry area. The most common pest problems after a serious flood tend to be ants, termites, mosquitos, cockroaches, rodents, and spiders. Especially if the wood in a home is not properly dried out, the pest problem could get worse even months after the actual rainfall.
As a result of the floods in Mississippi and Louisiana, residents undergoing post-flood inspections found existing pest issues they had never been aware of, especially with termites. To assist in the recovery efforts, more than forty companies underwent emergency training to offer wood preservation and termite treatment services. Even in a time of tragedy and despair, the pest control world was able to step up, create proactive solutions, and help flood victims with their pest control services and knowledge.
Sources: “First Responders” by Dan Austin in Pest Control Technology November 2016 issue