Deaths Related to Hurricane Irma - Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina, September 4-October 10, 2017

Abstract

Three powerful and devastating hurricanes from the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season (Harvey [August 17-September 1], Irma [August 30-September 13], and Maria [September 16-October 2]) resulted in the deaths of hundreds of persons. Disaster-related mortality surveillance is critical to an emergency response because it provides government and public health officials with information about the scope of the disaster and topics for prevention messaging. CDC's Emergency Operations Center collaborated with state health departments in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina to collect and analyze Hurricane Irma-related mortality data to understand the main circumstances of death. The most common circumstance-of-death categories were exacerbation of existing medical conditions and power outage. Further analysis revealed two unique subcategories of heat-related and oxygen-dependent deaths in which power outage contributed to exacerbation of an existing medical condition. Understanding the need for subcategorization of disaster-related circumstances of death and the possibility of overlapping categories can help public health practitioners derive more effective public health interventions to prevent deaths in future disasters.

FIGURE

Overlapping circumstances of deaths associated with existing medical condition exacerbation and power outages caused by Hurricane Irma — Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina, September 4– October 10, 2017*^,† Abbreviation: CO = carbon monoxide. * Total number of deaths = 73. ^† Fourteen of the 17 heat-related deaths occurred in residents of an assisted living facility in Florida that was without power for several days.