available to assist those hardest hit—so if we can lend a hand in St. Augustine, Palm Coast, or St. John’s County (pest related or not), please don’t hesitate to reach out. We know that those in our community are resilient, have weathered these storms before and will rebuild all that
was lost.
While the number of homes, commercial properties and businesses that were damaged by the gale force winds, water, airborne debris is immeasurable, my home on Anastasia Island was no exception—we lost a few pieces of metal roofing including a ridge cap that peeled back like a banana and exposed our home to water intrusion. We are grateful that our damage was minimal and that it only involved property. Given the palms that surround our property and the prevalence of roof rats in our area, I was inspired to write about the pest related impact to our homes and businesses—especially after the hurricane passes. Not only do we hunker down to ride out the storm, but pests and most notably wildlife in St. Augustine such as roof rats,snakes, raccoons, armadillos, mice and other pests hunkered down as well. We’ve all seen the migration of birds immediately ahead of an impending afternoon thunderstorm and wonder how their instincts kick in. Well, simply stated—all forms of wildlife have an uncanny ability to instinctively prepare for storms and will often not only seek higher ground, but also scan and seek out our damaged homes after the storm as much of their natural habitats are disrupted or disturbed when Hurricane Ian rolled through. As a result, we always expect an influx of calls because of storm related pest intrusion or roof rat intrusion.
Roof rats in Palm Coast and St. Augustine generally live very comfortably in the high and usually dry elevations of palm trees, Spanish oak trees and other elevated dense foliage. Roof rats in St. John’s County also like to take up residence in the duct work, wiring, pipe chases on the underside of homes that are built on piers or elevated a few feet or more off the ground. Roof rats don’t like to burrow through soil (like their Norway rat counterparts if you are from the mid-Atlantic or northern climates) but they will most certainly take advantage of open conduits,pipe chases, soft duct work, exposed fascia or soffits or vinyl/aluminum roof exchanges—particularly before, during and following a major storm or hurricane. Given the surge pushing into the narrowing river channel, the historic downtown St. Augustine took a
beating with surges cresting over the sea walls and flooding neighboring communities. Sewers were quickly overwhelmed and so was ever present wildlife. These catastrophic conditions force roof rats, pests and wildlife to seek immediate shelter or succumb to the unrelenting
waters.
Following storms in the downtown historic St. Augustine area, we always field an uptick of pest control calls—this storm no different. Therefore, it is always a good idea to pest-proof your home in historic or downtown St. Augustine. Within the pest control industry, we call this initiative “exclusion.” This means sealing up penetrations the size of a quarter or more anywhere around your home.
Sealing gaps, pipe-chases, installing door sweeps, screening off large openings with galvanized hardware cloth, creating customized solutions for sealing up the underside of your home if built on piers or with an exposed crawl space and screening off vents of crawl spaces. The good news is the pest control experts at InnoTech Pest have carved out a reputation of performing top-notch service for general pest control problems in St. Johns County, Palm Coast and St. Augustine. You can rest assured that our entomologist-trained pest control technicians have your backs when it comes to the toughest pest control problems in St. Augustine Beach. We’ve got your pests in our crosshairs and there is no fight we are unwilling to take on. Our hearts are with you and all members of our community as we come together and rebuild all that was lost.