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GOHSEP provides aerial mosquito spraying mission schedule

Posted at 9:26 PM, Oct 26, 2020
and last updated 2020-10-27 14:30:14-04

The Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (GOHSEP) has provided a schedule of their aerial spraying missions for the remainder of the week.

The spraying schedule from GOHSEP includes flights tonight, Tuesday, October 27, to finish applications in Lafayette Parish. Sprayings will also start or continue in Jeff Davis and Acadia Parishes.

GOHSEP says that on Monday night, approximately 105,000 acres were sprayed in Lafayette Parish. Flights on Tuesday are expected to cover the remaining 31,000 acres.

No Flights are currently scheduled for Wednesday night, October 28, due to Hurricane Zeta's arrival in Southeast Louisiana. GOHSEP says that they anticipate flights will resume on Thursday, October 29, to complete Acadia and Jefferson Davis Parishes

GOHSEP says that the schedule is subject to change due to weather restrictions.

On Monday night Lafayette Parish residents were questioning why a low-flying military plane was seen spraying in the parish when no scheduled mosquito sprayings were to take place. GOHSEP answered that question on Tuesday morning.

The Air Force had to make some adjustments to their mission schedules due to weather and cloud ceiling issues, according to Mike Steele, spokesperson for GOHSEP.

Spraying was scheduled to happen on Sunday, but no indication was given that the operation was continuing Monday.On Sunday the operation took place starting around sunset and continued for up to five hours. During that time, an Air Force C-130H, modified with the Modular Aerial Spray System (MASS), dispersed the pesticide "naled".

It's all part of the operation announced earlier this month.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) website, “naled is most commonly applied aerially as an ultra-low volume (ULV) spray. ULV sprayers mounted on planes or helicopters dispense very fine aerosol droplets containing small quantities of insecticide that drift through the air and kill mosquitoes on contact. The spray is dilute (only 1-2 tablespoons of naled is applied per acre sprayed) and the amount that ultimately floats to the ground is small and dissipates quickly.”

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