Puerto Rico: Thousands more died from hurricane than official toll, study finds
Estimate of 4,600 deaths in sharp conflict with official toll of 64, and researchers say new evaluation may be an underestimate, too
The landfall of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico last September led to the death of thousands on the island, according to a new study – in sharp conflict with the official government death toll of 64.
The report in the New England Journal of Medicine concludes that as many as 4,600 “excess deaths” occurred in the aftermath of the storm due to failures of medical and other critical infrastructure, and described the official number as “a substantial underestimate”.
Researchers said their fresh evaluation was probably an underestimate, too, owing to problems with communications that persist in the storm’s aftermath. In an enormous range of calculations, they said there is a 95% likelihood the death toll was somewhere between approximately 800 and 8,500 people.
Hurricane Maria, which peaked as a category 5 hurricane just before reaching Puerto Rico, brought devastating winds and catastrophic flooding to the Spanish speaking US territory. In the days, weeks and months that followed, roads and electrical lines were slow to be restored, grinding much of life to a near halt. There were also severe shortages of food and lack of access to potable water in many areas. Governor Ricardo Roselló called the storm “the biggest catastrophe in modern history” for the the island.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/29/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-death-toll-study-official-estimate
And then there is the traitor going to fund raiser in Tennessee for Marsha Blackburn and golf.....................
November 2018 cannot get here fast enough
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Sorry--I am disgusted and saddened at the focus on a not-really-funny racist when this story is so much more important. Lives matter. TV shows, not so much.
