Thirteen of the 31 deaths linked to Hurricane Charley in Florida last month were people over age 60, many of them apparently overwhelmed by efforts to clean up after the storm, U.S. officials said on Thursday.
Others perished because they did not follow common-sense instructions. Several died from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by running generators inside buildings, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report showed.
The analysis, released as Hurricane Ivan lashed the Gulf Coast, suggests that rescue and emergency workers, as well as health officials and family members, need to pay special attention to the elderly after a hurricane or similar natural disaster.
But the statistics also show that proper evacuation saves many lives, said Dr. Daniel Chertow, a CDC epidemiologist assigned to the Florida Department of Health.
“Since the early 1900s we have come a long way to preventing deaths,” Chertow, who led the analysis, said in a telephone interview.
Avoid exertion in aftermath
He noted that 1.4 million people were evacuated from areas threatened by Charley. Many choose to ride out storms but perhaps the punishment inflicted by having four storms make U.S. landfall in just over a month -- Charley, Frances, Gaston and now Ivan -- may have encouraged people to follow instructions and leave.
“I think people’s attention certainly has been gathered by these very difficult natural disasters,” Chertow said.
Most deaths from Charley, which hit Florida on Aug. 13, were due to severe wind blowing over heavy objects, the CDC analysis found.
Of those, 17 were due to trauma such as falling trees, three were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning, two were electrocuted, one person was electrocuted and drowned and one person had carbon monoxide poisoning and burns.
Six people died of natural causes worsened by stress.
“We encourage this older population to certainly avoid exertion as much as possible during the storm itself and in the days following the storm,” Chertow said.
“Two persons lost power during the storm and did not have access to their needed oxygen,” the CDC report reads.
One man killed himself after losing his home and possessions.
Chertow said several people died falling from heights trying to do repairs after the storm and others died in motor vehicle accidents.
