TAMPA: Hurricane Maria, which pummeled Puerto Rico in September 2017, is likely responsible for the deaths of more than 4,600 people, some 70 times higher than official estimates, US researchers said Tuesday. For comparison, the death toll from 2005’s Hurricane Katrina – the costliest hurricane in US history – was far lower, and estimated at 1,833. Most deaths after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico are blamed on interruptions in medical care due to power outages and blocked or washed out roads, said the report published in the New England Journal of Medicine. “Our estimates are roughly consistent with press reports that evaluated deaths in the first month after the hurricane,” it added. The government of Puerto Rico stopped publicly sharing its data on hurricane deaths in December 2017.

Source: New Strait Times May 29, 2018 14:37 UTC