GEORGETOWN, S.C. — Salt marsh mosquitoes have been flying by the thousands in Georgetown County.

Aerial spraying for the adult flying insects took place last week, and spray trucks have been hitting areas of the 701 corridor from East Bay to Wedgefield to kill the larvae, said Tim Chatman, county supervisor of Mosquito Control.

Three trucks continued to circle the county this week, he said. The trucks are trying to knock down the worst outbreak of the large, golden salt marsh mosquitoes Chatman has seen in several years.

As of Tuesday, Chatman said the trucks had done a 75-percent knockdown of the mosquitoes.

“They are coming from the recent thunderstorms that we’ve had in the city,” Chatman said. “The outbreak started happening after the Fourth of July. We were able to control them somewhat, but last week the numbers exploded in the north east portion of the city.’’

A normal mosquito hatching would not result in thousands of mosquitoes, Chatman said.

Rainfall has been very heavy in the area where the mosquitoes are the worst, Chatman said.

Aerial spraying took place over communities such as Wedgefield, Kensington and Colonial Estates, down to East Bay Park, he said.

The aerial spraying continued until Saturday, Chatman said.

Trucks have also been hitting the most hard-hit areas this week, hoping to knock down the hard-biting insects.

Other spraying is taking place in areas such as S.C. 521, and parts of the Waccamaw Neck.

The hardest hit area, so far, is the 701 corridor, Chatman said.

“We had two trucks in the 701 corridor [Monday] night and a third truck was operating in the Pawleys Island area,’’ Chatman said.

A truck will be spraying from Debordieu to Murrells Inlet this week, he said.

“The salt marsh mosquito is coming out in droves,” Chatman said. “It is one of two species of salt marsh mosquito, and both are a nuisance. It makes them public enemy number one in Georgetown as far as mosquito control.”

Anyone with mosquito problems in Georgetown County is urged to call the 24-hour hotline at  545-3615.

The phone does receive messages and calls are returned.

By Kelly Marshall Fuller

Kfuller@gtowntimes.com