BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — As the Central Florida region gets more rain earlier in the season, residents need to get ready to fight mosquitoes before they start to emerge, according to a warning from mosquito control expert Jeremy Cannon. 

What You Need To Know

  • Jeremy Cannon has a series of treatments that can help fight mosquitoes

  • As the area gets more rain, he says mosquitoes can start breeding in standing water

  • Treating that water, or minimizing it will go a long way toward fighting the pests

Spectrum New weather experts say Brevard County has seen 13 inches of rainfall since the beginning of the year.

But 82% of that has fallen since March 1, and with the early season rain, county officials are ramping up efforts to stop the spread of mosquitoes.

Cannon, a Melbourne native, and his Brevard Mosquito Control District team are the first line of defense. His goal over his 5-year tenure is to protect the public from the insects who bite and can infect people.

"The rainy season is really what starts breeding them," he said.

And with the rainy season coming early this year, Cannon is getting an early jump on treatment.​ The spraying of water-filled ditches is the most visible to residents, but it's what his team does first to avoid having to spray that many people aren't even aware of.

Workers use dry ice and a light to attract mosquitoes to a trap in the woods near neighborhoods. It stays there all season — Monday nights they set the traps, and Tuesdays they pick them up.

Holding up one trap, Cannon estimates some five hundred mosquitoes are inside.

Information on the traps will be sent into their office to determine what treatment measures will be taken.

"You always want a reason to treat," Cannon said. "This gives us the first reason. We always try other measures before any extreme treatments."

A quick sample of nearby pooling water reveals what the team thought they might find.

Jonathan Linder is a Brevard Mosquito Control​ District biologist. He says an alternative to spraying is releasing "mosquito fish" that dine on the flying pest's larvae.

"These are kind of like a fire and forget, you drop them in, and if conditions are right they do their thing," said Linder. "And we monitor it and we shouldn't have to do additional treatment."

For Cannon, it's just a sample of the work their team does, seen and unseen, to make sure the community is safe from the breeding and biting insects.

"It's a great service for public health," he said. "We try to keep people safe from diseases."

Mosquito control officials urge residents to rid their yards of standing water to ward off any potential mosquito breeding.​