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This weekend's wet weather has left behind plenty of standing water, which is prime breeding ground for mosquitoes.

The strong thunderstorms caused severe damage in the Lowcountry, but also produced heavy rain, an inch and a half to six inches in some areas.  Now a new danger may emerge.

“The mosquitoes that will probably hatch out from all this, the eggs were already there.  They've been there; they could have been laid a year ago, two years ago.  Eggs will stay around for a long time,” said Martin Hyatt, Superintendent of Mosquito Control Division Charleston County.

The beneficial rain from the weekend may help green up the lawns and gardens, but that's not all that's benefiting.

“When we get long dry spells and then we get a big rainfall on top of it, you get a much larger outbreak,” said Hyatt.

We can't control the weather Mother Nature gives us, but we can eliminate a big source of the mosquito problem in our own backyards, standing water.

“The water can become stagnant and if they just walked out from time to time and glanced in, mosquito larvae are very easy to see, little wiggly guys, and just changing it out, that's probably the easiest solution,” said Bruce Donaldson, Abide-A-While Garden Center in Mt. Pleasant.

Mosquitoes love stagnant water.  They live near it, they breed in there and that's why you have to dump out things like a bird bath once a week.

“It's kind of like having a citronella candle or a citronella torch around your patio and the smell somewhat keeps them away, but nothing is a sure thing,” said Donaldson.

“We're going after them as hard as we can to catch them in the aquatic stage before they become adults, but we will not get to all of them,” said Hyatt.

The fear of course, is mosquitoes can carry illnesses. Charleston mosquito control says they monitor the potential very carefully, and there are no problems yet.

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