Hurricanes and tropical storms in the United States cause a surge of deaths for nearly 15 years after the initial weather event strikes, new research suggests.
Governments only record the number of people killed during these tropical cyclones, usually due to drowning or injury. A new analysis, published in Nature, estimates that an average U.S. tropical cyclone indirectly causes 7,000 to 11,000 excess deaths during ensuing years.
Since 1930, these storms have contributed to between 3.6 million and 5.2 million U.S. deaths, whereas official government tallies put the total at about 10,000 deaths, according to the report.
"A big storm will hit, and there's all these cascades of effects where cities are rebuilding or households are displaced or social networks are broken," with serious consequences for public health, study leader Solomon Hsiang of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability said in a statement.
"In any given month, people are dying earlier than they would have if the storm hadn't hit their community," Hsiang said.
The study's estimates are based on data from the 501 tropical cyclones that hit the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from 1930 to 2015, and mortality rates for various populations within each state before and afterward.
While the study finds that more than 3 in 100 deaths nationwide are related to tropical cyclones, the burden is far higher for certain groups, with Black individuals three times more likely to die after a hurricane.
The many ways in which storms affect death rates over time aren't clear yet. Public spending may shift away from promoting long-run health to focus on immediate recovery needs, the researchers suggest.
Individuals might use retirement savings to repair property damage, reducing their ability to pay for future healthcare, they speculated. Family members might move away, weakening support networks that could be critical for good health down the line.
"These events can be so separated from the initial hazard that even affected individuals and their families may not see the connection," the researchers said.
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