Extreme Weather Injuries and Fatalities, 2006 to 2021

Abstract

Importance: Extreme weather has major implications for state and national health care systems; however, statistics examining weather-related injuries and fatalities are limited.

Objective: To examine the frequency and regional distribution of major disaster events (MDEs) in the US.

Design, setting, and participants: This ecologic cross-sectional study of MDEs occurring between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2021, evaluated US data on all injuries and fatalities included in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Centers for Environmental Information Storm Events Database. The data analysis was performed between February 22, 2023, and April 1, 2024.

Exposures: Major disaster events defined as an environmental event that caused either at least 50 injuries or at least 10 deaths.

Main outcomes and measures: All MDEs were evaluated using descriptive statistics for event type, property damage, and rural or urban classification according to the National Centers for Health Statistics Urban-Rural Classification Scheme for Counties. The location of events according to Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) region and hospital bed capacity of ASPR regions were also examined.

Results: Between 2006 and 2021, 11 159 storm events caused 42 254 injuries and 9760 deaths. Major disaster events accounted for 209 weather events (1.9%) but caused 19 463 weather-associated injuries (46.1%) and 2189 weather-associated deaths (22.4%). The majority of MDEs were caused by extreme heat (86 [41.1%]) and tornadoes (67 [32.1%]). While a larger proportion of MDEs occurred in urban areas (151 [75.1%]) vs rural areas (50 [24.9%]), rural MDEs caused a median of 9 (IQR, 2-16) deaths per event vs 4 (IQR, 0-14) deaths per event in urban areas. The majority of MDEs occurred in either ASPR region 4 (51 [24.5%]) or region 9 (45 [21.6%]). Certain event types, such as fires, wind, and hurricanes or storms, were geographically concentrated, while extreme heat and floods affected regions across the US equally. Urban counties had disproportionately greater hospital bed capacity than rural counties relative to population and MDE distributions.

Conclusions and relevance: The findings of this ecologic study indicate that while MDEs accounted for a small proportion of all weather events, they were associated with a disproportionate number of injuries and fatalities. Integrating these data into county, state, and regional hazard vulnerability analyses is crucial to ensuring preparedness and mitigating climate risk.

Figure 1.. Combined Injuries and Fatalities From Nonmajor and Major Disasters by Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response Region

The lower and upper ends of the boxes are the first and third quartiles. The whiskers indicate 1.5 times the IQR added and subtracted, as appropriate, to the first and third quartiles. Outlier values are excluded. In panel B, the horizontal bars inside the boxes indicates the median.

Figure 2.. Proportion of Major Disaster Event Types Occurring in Each Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response Region

^aThe other major disaster event in both regions was of debris flow (a type of severe landslide).