Hurricanes Kill Thousands Of People

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A number of dangerous weather events kill people where the death from the event is obvious. Often, people die from related conditions. This has been true with heat waves like those that hit Phoenix every year. It is also true with hurricanes.

*Hurricane Damage

*Rich Neighborhoods Hit

*Orange Industry Ruined

According to a new paper in the journal Nature, titled “Mortality caused by tropical cyclones in the United States,” the annual hurricane-related death toll is in the thousands most years. “We estimate that the average TC (tropical cyclones) generates 7,000–11,000 excess deaths, exceeding the average of 24 immediate deaths reported in government statistics.” The data came from observations of 501 storms.

The researchers wrote, “In particular, effects on human health are challenging to disentangle from numerous other factors that also influence health outcomes, such as behaviour, healthcare systems and pollution. Because of this complexity, many approaches to measuring the mortality impact of disasters focus narrowly on enumerating cases where a disaster is the most immediate and obvious direct cause of death, such as drownings in flood waters.”

Government Funds Spent Early

The researchers’ net was wide. People who must pay for the damage out of their savings may have little money as they age, which could be a factor in early death. Pollution and crop damage are other factors. Government money that might have eventually gone to healthcare is used for the immediate needs of those with trouble immediately after a storm.

The analysis is a stretch, but the point is well-taken. Hurricanes do more damage to health than they cause on the day of the event.