A battle against mosquitoes is taking place in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, this summer.
The Cape Cod Mosquito Control Project began applying larvicide to a large area of standing water between Duck Harbor and Bound Brook Island that has become a home for the pesky insects, as the Cape Cod Times first reported.
Residents of Wellfleet say they are hesitant to even go outside.
"It's a horror movie," Wellfleet resident Jodi North Birchall, who has lived on a nearby marsh for 41 years, told the newspaper. "This is the worst I have ever seen."
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"This is about as bad as I've seen it," concurred Assistant Superintendent Bart Morris of the Cape Cod Mosquito Control Project, who estimated the watery washover area could be as large as 40 acres, with some spots nearly inaccessible. He referred to the swarm of mosquitoes as "biblical" in size.
Cape Cod National Seashore Superintendent Brian Carlstrom thinks the wet weather may be a contributing factor to the alarming amount of mosquitoes in the area, but Norris said standing saltwater is a big part of the problem.
"We've had a wash-over effect. Mother nature breached a dune and it's just a ripe ground for breeding," he said.
NBC10 Boston followed the Cape Cod Mosquito Control Project at Duck Harbor Beach Thursday during the mitigation efforts.
"We're estimating thousands are being killed and that's thousands less making its way into town or someone's backyard barbecue," Norris said.
The group is also setting traps to try and catch the pesky bugs.
"We're still getting over 2,000 mosquitos in a trap in one night," said Gabrielle Sakolsky, the superintendent of the Cape Cod Mosquito Control Project said.
Residents are also doing their own mitigation efforts in their backyards. Jodi Birchall recently posted a video of mosquitos swarming her van.
"I am doing everything I can. I just went them all to go away because everything I enjoy on the Cape, it's really put a squash on my daytime activities," she said.
Until the mosquitos are gone, Birchall said she is carefully planning her outdoor activities to avoid getting bitten.
"If you have to go in the car, you have to time it out and try to run in really, really quickly. But then you're driving down Route 6, swatting, and your windshield is splattered," Birchall said.
