Hurricane threats to health can extend years after landfall

UF Health Podcasts

It’s tragedy enough when the winds and storm surge of cyclones like Hurricane Helene or Hurricane Milton kill people and upend communities along their meandering paths. Unfortunately, research shows their health impact can extend years after skies clear and waters recede.
Stanford University researchers note in a recent study that any one hurricane indirectly causes up to 11,000 excess deaths in the 15 years after landfall. Scientists analyzed data from 500 tropical cyclones that hit the Atlantic or Gulf coasts of the U.S. between 1930 and 2015, along with mortality data in affected regions.
The toll has been staggering, with estimated deaths as high as 5.2 million since 1930. The burden has been highest in Black communities.
Investigators are now trying to unravel why we see these excess deaths. Hurricanes can disrupt local economies, with citizens losing homes and nest eggs. Community resources are reduced.
Few people realize these hazards trigger negative health consequences. People experience accumulated stress when their lives are sidetracked and their finances drained. Diets are affected. Health resources might become more challenging to access.
The displacement of households and broken social networks carry additional risks to health, including depression and cardiovascular disease.
Scientists say government policy can be adapted, and financial resources allocated, to plan for and lessen such terrible consequences. These hurricane casualties have been uncounted and unrecognized, lost to history.
So, although some escape a storm with their lives, they might have have carried its hazards into the future.