Tiny eye-biting fly population skyrockets in San Gabriel Valley

Tiny eye-biting flies are swarming all over the San Gabriel Valley and pestering residents. 

"The bugs! The bugs! They're getting me," Azusa resident Constance Yu said. "They're like little demons but tiny."

The black flies are so small that it's hard to catch them on camera, but they have a big appetite for biting people's eyes and necks.

"We get bit daily, all day, every day," Azusa resident Vinita Khanna said. 

The pests have been a nuisance in the foothills for years. However, the historic warm winter rainfall and the late-winter heatwave have caused the black fly population to explode this year. 

"Our traps indicate that last year we had single digits around this time," said Anais Medina Diaz, spokesperson for the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District. "We're seeing them in the hundreds."

Medina Diaz added that the river levels are higher because warm weather has melted mountain snow, creating larger breeding grounds for the flies. 

"Our district has been going out to the river and trying to locate these breeding sites, treating them weekly," Medina Diaz said. "We began treatments well ahead of our usual season."

They're encouraging people who live in the San Gabriel Valley foothills to safeguard themselves from the painful bites by putting on repellent with DEET and covering up in loose, light clothing. 

Families said they've developed allergic reactions after multiple bites. 

"We have reactions, severe reactions," Khanna said. "It's been quite difficult, almost to the point of considering not living here."