JACKSONVILLE, FL – As Florida reels from the devastation caused by Hurricane Milton, which made landfall as a Category 3 storm, and the lingering effects of Hurricane Helene just two weeks earlier, new research shows that the long-term health consequences of such storms may be far greater than initially understood.
A recent study published in Nature analyzing nearly 500 tropical cyclones from 1930 to 2015 revealed that hurricanes cause immediate destruction and lead to thousands of additional deaths in the aftermath.
These indirect fatalities, which can persist for up to 15 years after the storm, often go unreported in official death tolls, leading experts to believe the true impact of hurricanes has been grossly underestimated.
According to environmental economist Rachel Young of the University of California, Berkeley, who co-authored the Nature study, “We estimate that indirect deaths from hurricanes could number between 7,000 and 11,000 per storm, which is up to 300 times greater than the official death counts.” This staggering statistic highlights the extent to which storm-related fatalities have been overlooked.
This equates to an estimated 55,280 to 88,080 additional deaths each year. The study also revealed that hurricanes and their aftermaths have likely caused more deaths in the U.S. than all recorded fatalities from car accidents, infectious diseases, and wars combined, with a total ranging between 3.6 million and 5.2 million lives lost.
The impacts are particularly severe for low-income and marginalized communities. Studies show that Black communities face nearly three times the risk of death from hurricanes compared to white communities. At the same time, infants are especially vulnerable, with a 95% confidence level of storm-related infant deaths occurring more than 21 months after a storm.
Additionally, those living in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas often have less access to healthcare and are more likely to be exposed to pollution, compounding the health effects of these disasters.
Even after the storms pass, the mental health toll can be significant. Following Hurricane Milton, many Floridians expressed heightened anxiety and stress, particularly as they had just endured Hurricane Helene. Experts suggest that this mental strain can lead to long-term health complications, further contributing to the excess death toll.
The lingering effects of tropical storms extend beyond the immediate recovery period, as seen with hurricanes like Helene and Milton. These events demonstrate that the public health challenges hurricanes pose are more complex than originally thought, with far-reaching implications lasting for years.