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08 Nov 2011: Extreme Weather Events
Exact Huge Health Toll, Study Says

Catastrophic weather events in the U.S. over the last decade have exacted a toll of $14 billion in health care costs and could portend even greater burdens in the future, researchers say. In a new study

Forum: Is Extreme Weather
Linked to Global Warming?

In the past year, the world has seen a large number of extreme weather events. In a Yale Environment 360 forum, a panel of experts weighs in on whether the wild weather may be tied to increasing global temperatures.
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published in the journal Health Affairs, researchers say six extreme events that they link to climate change — including Hurricane Katrina, Florida’s devastating 2004 hurricane season, and North Dakota river flooding in 2009 — combined to cause 1,689 premature deaths and 760,000 medical visits in the U.S. Researchers calculated that medical expenses totaled $740 million, while they valued the lives lost at $13.3 billion. The study was conducted by researchers from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, San Francisco. “This in no way is going to capture all of the climate-related events that happened in the U.S. over that time period,” said Kim Knowlton, a NRDC senior scientist. With extreme weather likely to become more frequent and severe, the authors suggest that policymakers help communities more effectively prepare for the impacts, including expanded health surveillance programs, heat wave warning systems, and efforts to reduce air pollution.

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