9.6.2000 00:09
Mosquito spraying delayed until tomorrow
By NICOLE GESUALDO
Journal Staff Writer
COVENTRY
-- Because of last night's cool and breezy weather, yesterday's scheduled anti-mosquito spraying in Coventry was postponed to tomorrow evening.
The town expected to spray the pesticide Sumithrin around the Westwood Estates Mobile Home Park in eastern Coventry, where a dead crow infected with the West Nile virus was found Aug. 27. The state Department of Environmental Management recommended spraying a two-mile radius around the spot where the bird was found.
The chemical Sumithrin, sprayed from blowers affixed to town dump trucks, kills the mosquitoes that are thought to be the main carriers of West Nile.
Last night's weather -- with temperatures predicted to dip into the upper 40s and winds expected to be between 10 and 15 mph -- were unacceptable for spraying, said Malcolm Grant, a spokesman for the DEM.
Grant said mosquitoes become inactive when temperatures are lower than 50 degrees, and are not as easily affected by the airborne Sumithrin mist. He said wind speeds over 10 mph preclude spraying of pesticides.
Coventry chose to wait until tomorrow to ensure good weather conditions, Town Manager Francis A. Frobel said yesterday. Weather forecasts for Coventry, which is farther inland than Narragansett or South Kingstown and tends to have colder evening temperatures, predict temperatures below 50 degrees again tonight.
By tomorrow, a warming trend is expected to hit Rhode Island. Frobel said the spraying will begin at 7 p.m. and will continue until about 11 p.m. Four caravans of town dump trucks, escorted by police cruisers, will spray the pesticide.
Frobel and Grant said the delay would not affect the town's overall effectiveness in killing mosquitos or stopping the spread of the West Nile virus.
"It's working to our advantage," Frobel said. "Because the spray kills [mosquitoes] on contact, it's best to have them as active as possible."
The town sent out fliers explaining the spraying procedures with Coventry public school students yesterday, but those fliers did not include information about the delay. For more details about the spraying, residents can call Town Hall at 821-6400 to speak to a staff member or hear a recorded message.
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