![]() ![]() The number of people killed and the number of people involved in the recovery efforts were so large that an accurate count of fatalities was impossible to obtain. Estimates of the number of lives lost range between 8,000 and 12,000 people. The Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900 was the deadliest hurricane to ever hit the United States. Deadliest Hurricane to Hit the United States A weak hurricane that makes a direct hit on a major city, or one that moves slowly dropping lots of flood waters can cause more fatalities than storms of higher category. So, do not underestimate a lower category hurricane! None of the top five deadliest hurricanes in United States history were a Category 5 hurricane at landfall. The largest loss of life from a hurricane is often caused by storm surge and flooding rather than the speed of the winds. ![]() “Even under the most extreme scenarios of climate change, future disasters will look a lot like today’s.Deadliest Hurricanes in United States History ![]() “If you read IPCC reports, there’s no hint that we will be overwhelmed and incapable of responding,” says Pielke. Neither the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) nor any other reputable scientific body predicts a reversal in the long-term trend of declining deaths, even if temperatures rise another three degrees or more. Fifty years ago, it would have killed thousands.”Ī cyclone in Bangladesh killed 135,000 people in 1991 while another in 1970 killed 300,000.Īnd the 90% decline in deaths over the last century occurred during a period when the global population nearly quadrupled, and the global temperature rose 1.3 degrees centigrade. “Look at Cyclone Ampham in India and Bangladesh earlier this year,” said Pielke. Over the last four decades, poor nations like Bangladesh have reduced death tolls by over 90% thanks to simple measures like cyclone warning systems and storm shelters. “If we build well, in the right places, and have good warning systems, and good disaster response policies, such as evacuations, we can continue to do well, even with much stronger events,” he added. “One of the things that’s well-understood in the natural disaster community is that how we prepare is the most important factor in the disaster we experience,” said Pielke, who is also a Forbes contributor. Roger Pielke, Jr.īut can those declines in disaster deaths continue as the climate changes? Hurricanes aren’t increasing in frequency. In that decade, 5.4 million people died from natural disasters. There has been 92% decline in the decadal death toll from natural disasters since its peak in the 1920s, according to the International Disaster Database. In other words, hurricanes, floods, and other natural disasters aren’t getting worse. In a new review of 54 studies over the last 22 years, and published in the field’s leading scientific journal, Pielke finds “little evidence to support claims that any part of the overall increase in global economic losses documented on climate time scales is attributable to human-caused changes in climate.” It’s huge and can’t be overstated.”īut aren’t natural disasters becoming more expensive? They are, but that’s because we are so much richer, not because hurricanes and floods are so much more severe. “One of the greatest successes of turning science into policy is reducing deaths from disasters,” said Roger Pielke, a University of Colorado professor and leading expert on climate change and disasters. ![]()
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