Southern California PCOs Slogged Through Record Rainfall

LOS ANGELES — Southern California had record-breaking rainfall last week, and PCOs are feeling the short-term effects and bracing for long-term impacts of the inclement weather conditions.

CNN reported portions of Los Angeles County accumulated nearly one foot of rainfall last week, leaving two California residents dead from falling trees in the powerful storm. Downtown Los Angeles's 7 inches of rain in two days is the area's third-wettest two-day period on record.

Noelle Goins, co-owner of Get Goins Pest Control, Los Angeles, Calif., attested the storms are not normal for this time of year.

Increased rodent and cockroach pressure have been their main service call on days of heavy rainfall, she said.

“Areas that have outdoor rodents, especially like field mice, if there's any flooding, our customers may see some dead rodents on their property they normally wouldn’t see,” Goins said. “We had an In2Care mosquito bait station out, and we've never opened a mosquito bait station and seen mice in there that have drowned.”

© Noelle Goins

Like many PCOs, the Goins will go the extra mile to help customers who have experienced water damages in their homes. The couple were in the process of treating a subterranean termite issue when a customer’s home had water damage in the kitchen and had leaked about three buckets full of water.

When they went on the roof to do the full termite inspection, there was a lake of water in the corner of the roof.

“All the debris that blew there was blocking the drainage,” Goins said. “We were able to remove the debris for him, which was great, but now he has to have a roofer come out.”

Get Goins also completed a fumigation treatment last week in the middle of the rain. On the day the tent went up, there wasn't rain, but on the day the tent came down, the fumigation team had to work through the thick of the storm.

“I got to give them props because they worked hard in those conditions, making sure that not only they're being safe, but they're still doing their job and making sure that it is safe for re-entry and they did all of that in the rain,” Goins said.

Goins and Greg Bausch, vice president of American City Pest and Termite, Los Angeles, Calif., both agreed that peculiar weather patterns may slow business down now, but they know the heavy rain and moisture will bring a busy spring season with phones ringing for mosquito control.

“We’re not seeing mosquitoes yet, but we know they're coming the minute it gets a little warm,” Goins said. “I think the biggest call we're going to get is mosquito pressure. I think having rain this early going into spring is going to really boost everyone's mosquito control [business].”

Bausch said business might be a little slower on days of bad weather, but generally the company has benefited from long-term effects of pest pressure picking up in the weeks and months to come.

“Both pest and termite department are a little bit slower during the rain. We do get some calls with pests moving indoors,” he said. “The cold and wet weather will slow us down a little bit, but we know it’s good for pest pressure in the long run.”

As far as safety is concerned, like most people on the road, American City technicians just slow down and remain cautious, Bausch said.

“We still perform [services] throughout the rainy days; We can just change our service procedures,” he said. “This is Southern California, and we don't get a lot of rain, so we welcome the wet weather because we know that later on, that's going to help us.”