Emergency / Natural Disaster Response

Mosquito Control After Hurricanes, Floods, and Disease Outbreaks

Since our work responding to the first U.S. outbreak of West Nile Virus in 1999, Clarke has built a proven record for disease and weather-emergency mosquito control operations that soars above the rest. It is why federal, state and local governments have repeatedly relied on Clarke to jump into action following a hurricane, flood, natural disaster or mosquito-borne disease outbreak. For example, when Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) cases were spiking across several parts of the U.S. in 2019 and again in 2020, Clarke was called upon to protect public health with several aerial mosquito control applications, treating more than 3.2 million acres across three states: Massachussetts, Rhode Island and Michigan. Or, when Miami-Dade County was experiencing the first-ever local cases of Zika in 2016, Clarke was on the ground there providing essential operational support.

When hurricanes, flooding or a sudden outbreak of mosquito borne diseases occur, the rapid response of a safe and proven emergency program becomes essential.

Proven Experience with Emergency-Related Mosquito Control

When we're needed, we're there. Our experience providing mosquito control operations after disease and weather-related emergencies includes:

1999 The presence of West Nile Virus (mosquito and human cases) is confirmed in New York City for the first time in U.S. history. Working directly with Centers of Disease Control, Clarke is hired by the New York City Office of Emergency Management to provide emergency response mosquito control to manage populations and mitigate further disease spread.
2002 The City of Chicago experiences a major West Nile Virus outbreak and Clarke provides emergency ground response to control populations and mitigate further disease spread. We respond again for Chicago on West Nile outbreaks in 2003 and 2007.
2003 South Dakota suffers an outbreak of West Nile Virus. Within just four days of being contacted, Clarke began treating 110,000 acres to protect public health.
2004 FEMA contracts with Clarke to treat over 4 million acres in Florida due to the Hurricanes (Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne).
2005 Clarke provides aerial ULV applications for mosquito and fly control to over 3 million acres in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and delivers a ground-based emergency response program for a West Nile outbreak in Maricopa County (Arizona).
2006 More than 500,000 acres in Massachusetts are treated in just two evenings after the governor declares a state of emergency due to Eastern Equine Encephalitis.
2012 Clarke is called into action and responds to the Texas West Nile Virus outbreak in just four days.
2016 Clarke answers the call to respond to the U.S. Zika outbreak in Miami-Dade County and works for more than 12 weeks with the Miami-Dade Mosquito Control Department to perform over 250,000 door-to-door inspections, support resident education and public relations, and complete ground and aerial control treatments to eradicate local transmissions of Zika.
2017 Hurricanes Harvey and Irma hit Texas and Florida within weeks of each other. Clarke responds within days to both disaster zones with teams, supplies and equipment, and delivers treatment in September to both states totaling nearly 4 million acres. Clarke is also on the ground in Brownsville, Texas for over six weeks, supporting the high-risk community with a robust Zika prevention program to protect public health.
2018 Clarke mobilizes a team to North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence to perform ground ULV treatments and provide critical product and equipment to affected counties.
2019 Persistently high levels of Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) plague several states across the US. Clarke partners with the states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Michigan to support multiple aerial applications during the peak months of the outbreak, ultimately treating more than 2.7 million acres across those three states.
2020 Michigan experiences another cycle of Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) cases, and again engages Clarke to provide targeted aerial mosquito control treatments in high-risk areas of the state to prevent the loss of life and protect human health. Clarke treats more than 450,000 acres.

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