Mosquitoes are swarming in El Segundo, and authorities are working to try to determine the source of the problem.
KNX News’ Jon Baird reported that the area most plagued by the mosquitoes is in the northwest part of El Segundo, but they are also being found blocks away in other parts of town.
Dave McCain, a resident, told Baird he does a mosquito sweep at night.
“I've seen on posts where kids and family members are getting eaten alive nightly,” he said. “I can't say that's the case for my residents.”
But Samantha Hedding, who has lived in town for 20 years, said she and her family have been “inundated with mosquitoes 100%.”
“My kids are covered in bites,” she said. “One of them has a reaction, so she's pretty welted up.”
She added that the infestation has been awful for her entire family.
“We're just trying to hold on and live. It's horrible,” she said. “We're living no sleep. The kids are miserable…they're going late to school because they're up all night dealing with mosquitoes. I've got one in college. She came home. She actually left mid to go home to the dorm. She's like, ‘I'm not going to stay here.’”
El Segundo Mayor Chris Pimentel told Baird that the city has been working closely with Vector Control officials and others to try to get rid of the mosquitoes.
“We've been up and down the public spaces looking for sources of water and dewatering those,” he said. “The city of L.A. has been very responsive on their land to the west, and we use a lot of mosquito traps to sort of see if we're making progress and in some parts of town we really are, and in some parts of town, we are really not.”
He added that it’s been difficult to pin down where the mosquitoes are coming from.
“I will tell you the mosquito influx is really, really frustrating, and one thing that's tricky with it," he said.
He said they have identified a six-block area where the infestation is concentrated, but mosquitoes have been found in other areas, too.
He said even when they do eliminate a possible breeding ground - like a pool of standing water - it takes days for them to know if their efforts were successful or not.
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