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NEWS
Never-before-seen dunes on Pluto spotted in New Horizons images
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Experts advise: Start colorectal screening at 45, not 50
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NEWS IN BRIEF
HEALTH,
SCIENCE & SOCIETY

Hurricane Maria killed at

least 4,645 people in
Puerto Rico, a study
estimates
The new number is based on household surveys and surpasses the
official count of 64
BY
AIMEE CUNNINGHAM
5:04PM, MAY 29, 2018
STORM SURGE Police in Puerto Rico raise the coffin of a fellow officer who died while crossing a river in his car
during Hurricane Maria. A new estimate drastically increases the storm’s death toll on the island.
RAMON ESPINOSA/AP
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SPONSOR MESSAGE

Hurricane Maria and its chaotic aftermath in Puerto Rico led to at least 4,645 deaths,
according to a new estimate based on household surveys. That’s thousands more than the
64 official storm-related deaths counted from death certificates.

The Category 5 storm hit the U.S. Caribbean territory on September 20, 2017, bringing
down trees, houses and the electricity system. From then until December 31, the death
rate rose 62 percent compared with the same time period in 2016, researchers report
online May 29 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
A third of those deaths resulted from delayed or interrupted medical care, the researchers
found. Residents most commonly reported that they weren’t able to get medications.
Damaged roads and closed medical facilities also disrupted health care, as did the loss of
power, which shut down respiratory equipment and dialysis machines.

Puerto Rican officials tallied 64 deaths from the storm, relying on medical examiners to
attribute cause of death. But investigations by other researchers and some media
organizations had estimated that there were more than 1,000 hurricane-related deaths.
The new study took a community-based approach, querying 3,299 randomly selected
households from January 17 to February 24 about deaths and medical care delays as well
as disruptions to water, electricity and cell phone services.

With the Atlantic hurricane season beginning again in June, “it will be critical to review
how disaster-related deaths will be counted, in order to mobilize an appropriate response
operation and account for the fate of those affected,” the researchers say.

Citations
N. Kishore et al. Mortality in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. New England Journal of Medicine. Published
online May 29, 2018. doi:10.1056/NEJMsa1803972.

Further Reading
K. Plantz. How science and society crossed paths in 2017. Science News Online, December 19, 2017.

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More from Science News

●
● Never-before-seen dunes on Pluto spotted in New Horizons images

●
● Experts advise: Start colorectal screening at 45, not 50

●
● Two-faced star reveals a pulsar’s surprising bulk
●
● Guidelines call for limits to whole genome testing for fetuses

●
● Treating roads with oil and gas wastewater may spread harmful pollution

●
● The first land-walking vertebrates may have emerged from salty estuaries
●
● Oldest known lizard fossil pushes group’s origins back 75 million years

●
● The first Americans could have taken a coastal route into the New World

●
● Finally, a plan on how to include pregnant women in clinical trials
●
● Astronomers scrutinized last year’s eclipse. Here’s what they’ve learned

●
● The history of heredity makes for a fascinating, and chilling, read

●
● Keeping people within U.S. blood pressure guidelines saves lives
 ●
● Dark matter particles elude scientists in the biggest search of its kind

●
● Skeletons come in many shapes and sizes

●
● Pluto’s demotion ignores astronomical history

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