As if Chicago hasn`t had enough to contend with in recent weeks, a wave of mosquitoes has followed the Great Flood of 1987, and that wave is expected to peak in the next few days.
The heavy rains have released millions of blood-sucking devils known as common floodwater mosquitoes, or Aedes vexans, according to Paul Geery, head of the Des Plaines Valley Mosquito Abatement District.
And that mosquito invasion, Geery said Friday, is expected to peak over the weekend or early next week. ”I wouldn`t call it a crisis,” he said,
”but it certainly is a nuisance.”
Just ask those who have been bitten. ”It`s the first time I`ve seen it this bad,” said Pete Forrest, who lives near Salt Creek in Wood Dale. ”They are really fierce. They`re all over, even in the garage.”
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Fortunately, Geery said, the floodwater mosquitoes pose no health hazard. Officials, meanwhile, announced that two more emergency relief centers would open Monday, in Norridge and Skokie, where flood victims can apply for federal loans or grants.
And weather forecasters, while predicting rain, were not expecting any downpour that would reverse the slow return to pre-flood normalcy that was progressing Friday. Roads and beaches were reopening, and river and creek levels were dropping.
The mosquitoes, however, were another story. Geery said another wave can be expected from the second, but lesser flood this week.
The floodwater mosquito lays its eggs in ground that is expected to flood. ”Nobody`s really clear how it knows,” Geery said, ”but we think the mosquito senses a certain chemical balance in the soil.”
When water covers the eggs, they hatch into larva. After four larva, or worm-like, stages, the insects enter a pupa, or cocoon, stage for a few more days before emerging as adults.
Only the female mosquito bites, because she needs blood to produce her eggs.
The influx of mosquitoes has been obvious in areas that were flooded. The assistant manager of a Walgreen`s drugstore in Park Ridge said Friday his sales of insect repellents were up 15 to 20 percent.
Anyone who ventures outside can expect to get bit, Geery said. Unlike other breeds of mosquitoes, which lay their eggs on top of standing water and emerge periodically, floodwater mosquitoes appear suddenly in swarms soon after heavy rainfalls.
Public and private abatement programs can control mosquito population, he said, but heavy downpours hamper spraying efforts. And the Central Weather Service was predicting more showers over the weekend.
Jim DiCola of the Central Weather Service said there was a 40 to 50 percent chance of showers late Saturday or early Sunday that could add less than a half-inch to August`s record rain total. The total stood at 17.10 inches Friday night.
DiCola said there was a similar probability of showers Sunday night that should amount to less than half an inch.
Monday and Tuesday should be rainless, DiCola said.
Phil Cogan, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA), said that relief centers will be at James Giles School, 4251 N. Oriole Ave., Norridge; and Niles East High School, 7701 N. Lincoln Ave., Skokie. The centers will open at 10 a.m. Monday and will operate from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.
Flood relief centers are already open in Addison, Des Plaines and Melrose Park. As of 7 p.m. Friday, more than 1,500 people had gone through the centers.
A second flood relief center for Du Page County is expected to open sometime next week.
As a sign of conditions returning to normal in Chicago, swimmers were allowed to return to Lake Michigan Friday. ”All of the (Chicago) beaches are open again, as of 9 a.m. this morning,” said a spokesman for the Chicago Park District. Chicago beaches were closed Thursday after the renewed rains forced the Metropolitan Sanitary District to open the Wilmette locks on the North Shore Channel, allowing untreated water to flow into Lake Michigan.
Officials said Friday that beaches in Wilmette were open, but beaches in Lake Forest were still closed.
Also Friday, federal officials announced that local government units in four townships in Cook County and three in Du Page County have been declared eligible for reimbursement of some of their extraordinary flood relief costs, including costs for debris removal, damages to public buildings and protective measures.
Also eligible for the reimbursements will be some private, non-profit agencies in those townships, including private, non-profit medical
institutions, schools, and utilities, said Cogan of FEMA.
The announcement affects local governments and some non-profit agencies in the following Cook County townships: Elk Grove, Leyden, Maine, and Schaumburg. In Du Page County, Addison, Bloomingdale, and York townships are affected.
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Eight other townships in Cook County and three more in Du Page County have requests pending with the federal government for identical aid.