Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wzw2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-16T18:44:14.142Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Tracking Deaths Related to Hurricane Ike, Texas, 2008

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2013

David F. Zane ,
Tesfaye M. Bayleyegn ,
John Hellsten ,
Ryan Beal ,
Crystal Beasley ,
Tracy Haywood ,
Dana Wiltz-Beckham  and
Amy F. Wolkin
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background: On September 13, 2008, Hurricane Ike, a category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph, made landfall near Galveston, Texas. Ike produced a damaging, destructive, and deadly storm surge across the upper Texas and southwestern Louisiana coasts. Thirty-four Texas counties were declared disaster areas by the Federal Emergency Management Agency; 15 counties were under mandatory evacuation orders. To describe causes of death associated with this hurricane and identify prevention strategies during the response and recovery phases, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) monitored mortality data in 44 counties throughout the state. This report summarizes Ike-related deaths reported by Texas medical examiners, justices of the peace (coroners), forensic centers, public health officials, and hospitals.

Methods: Based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) disaster-related mortality surveillance form, DSHS developed a state-specific 1-page form and collected (optimally daily) data on demographic, date and place of death, and cause and circumstance of deaths. A case was defined as any death that was directly or indirectly related to Ike among evacuees, residents, nonresidents, or rescue personnel in the declared disaster counties, counties along the Texas Gulf coast or counties known to have evacuation shelters occurring September 8, 2008, through October 13, 2008. Analyzed data were shared with the state emergency operation center and the CDC on a daily basis.

Results: The surveillance identified 74 deaths in Texas as directly (10 [14%]), indirectly (49 [66%]), or possibly (15 [20%]) related to Ike. The majority of deaths (n = 57) were reported by medical examiners. Deaths occurred in 16 counties of the 44 counties covered by the surveillance. The majority of deaths occurred in Harris and Galveston (28 [38%] and 17 [23%]), respectively. The deceased ranged in age from younger than 1 year to 85 years, with an average age of 46 years (median 50 years); 70% were male. Of the 74 deaths, 47 (64%) resulted from injuries, 23 (31%) from illnesses, and 4 (5%) were undetermined. Among the injuries, carbon monoxide poisoning (13 [18%]) and drowning (8 [11%]) were the leading causes of injury-related deaths. Cardiovascular failure (12 [16%]) was the leading cause of illness-related deaths.

Conclusions: Defining the relation of death to hurricane using an active mortality surveillance system is possible. The active mortality surveillance form used in Ike provided valuable daily information to DSHS, state emergency management officials, and the CDC regarding the characteristics of deaths in the state. Most of the Ike-related deaths were caused by injury (direct and indirectly related) such as carbon monoxide poisonings and drowning and may have been preventable by educating the public.

(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2011;5:23-28)

Keywords

mortalityhurricanescyclonesTexasdatabasesinformation managementdata collectiondeath certificatespublic health informaticshurricanesdisastersmortality surveillanceHurricane Ike
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , March 2011 , pp. 23 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1.Malilay, J.Tropical cyclones. In: Noji EK, ed. The Public Health Consequences of Disasters. New York: Oxford University Press; 1997:207-227.Google Scholar
2.Williams, J.The Weather Book. 2nd ed. New York: Vintage Books; 1997.Google Scholar
3.United Nations Development Programme. Reducing Disaster Risk: A Challenge for Development. New York: John S. Swift Co; 2004.Google Scholar
4.National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA attributes recent increase in hurricane activity to naturally occurring multi-decadal climate variability. http://www.magazine.noaa.gov/stories/mag184.htm. Accessed February 23, 2010.Google Scholar
5.National Weather Service, Office of Climate, Water and Weather Services. Weather fatalities. http://www.weather.gov/om/hazstats.shtml. Accessed October 15, 2009.Google Scholar
6.Shultz, JM, Russell, J, Espinel, Z.Epidemiology of tropical cyclones: the dynamics of disaster, disease, and development. Epidemiol Rev. 2005;27:21–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7.Roth, DTexas hurricane history. http://www.srh.noaa.gov/images/lch/tropical/txhurricanehistory.pdf. Accessed November 24, 2009.Google Scholar
8.National Weather Service Forecast Office. Houston/Galveston, Texas (Hurricane Ike update, September 2008). http://www.srh.noaa.gov/hgx/?n=projects_ike08. Accessed October 21, 2008.Google Scholar
9.Federal Emergency Management Agency. Designated counties for Texas Hurricane Ike, disaster summary for FEMA-1791-DR, Texas. http://www.fema.gov/news/eventcounties.fema?id=10570. Accessed October 21, 2008.Google Scholar
10.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Emergency preparedness and response.Public health assessment and surveillance after a disaster. http://emergency.cdc.gov/disasters/surveillance. Accessed December 11, 2008.Google Scholar
11.Texas Department of State Health Services. Community preparedness, disaster-related mortality surveillance. http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/comprep/surveillance/form.shtm. Accessed October 21, 2008.Google Scholar
12.Combs, DL, Quenemoen, LE, Parrish, RG, Davis, JH.Assessing disaster-attributed mortality: development and application of a definition and classification matrix. Int J Epidemiol. 1999;28 (6):1124–1129.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
13.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Mortality associated with Hurricane Katrina—Florida and Alabama, August-October 2005.MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2006;55 (9):239–242.Google Scholar
14.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Deaths associated with Hurricanes Marilyn and Opal—United States, September-October 1995.MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1996;45 (2):32–38.Google Scholar
15.Ragan, P, Schulte, J, Nelson, SJ, Jones, KT.Mortality surveillance: 2004 to 2005 Florida hurricane-related deaths. Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 2008;29 (2):148–153.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16.Van Sickle, D, Chertow, DS, Schulte, JM.Carbon monoxide poisoning in Florida during the 2004 hurricane season. Am J Prev Med. 2007;32 (4):340–346.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
17.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Carbon monoxide exposures after hurricane Ike - Texas, September 2008.MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2009;58 (31):845–849.Google Scholar
18.Yale, JD, Cole, TB, Garrison, HG, Runyan, CW, Ruback, JK.Motor vehicle-related drowning deaths associated with inland flooding after hurricane Floyd: a field investigation. Traffic Inj Prev. 2003;4 (4):279–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19.American FactFinder. Census 2000. http://factfinder.census.gov. Accessed December 20, 2010.Google Scholar
20.De Ville de Goyet, C.Editorial comments—“But for the hurricane”: measuring natural disaster mortality over the long term. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2007;22 (2):152–153.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21.Alexander, D.Natural Disasters. New York: Chapman & Hall; 1993.Google Scholar
22.Department of Regional Development and Environment, Organization of American States. Disasters, Planning, and Development: Managing Natural Hazards to Reduce Loss.Washington, DC: Organization of American States; 1990.Google Scholar
23.Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Deaths associated with Hurricane Hugo—Puerto Rico. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1989;38 (39):680–682.Google Scholar