"No one in eastern Kentucky could remember rain as intense as what fell in July 2022. In just five days, more than 14 inches of rain inundated the region's rural counties. On the final day of the deluge, there was too much water for the ground to soak up any more. Flash floods tore through towns, washing away roads, homes and entire neighborhoods.
The floods were deadly. But how deadly, exactly? There are still multiple government death counts for an event that upended the lives of thousands of people. The state of Kentucky determined that 45 people died from the flooding. But the National Weather Service counted 40 deaths. And preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows only 36 people died.
The disparate death counts in Kentucky are part of a long-standing problem: Despite the growing danger from climate-driven disasters, there is no single, reliable count of who is dying as a result of extreme weather in the United States. For any given weather disaster, multiple government agencies publish independent — and often widely differing — death counts."
Rebecca Hersher and Alejandra Borunda report for NPR June 10, 2024.
SEE ALSO:
"Here's Why An Arizona Medical Examiner Is Working To Track Heat-Related Deaths" (NPR)
"Her Father Was Killed In A Climate-Driven Flood. Here's How She's Remembering Him" (NPR)
"The Undercount: The Invisible Death Toll From Climate Change" (NPR)
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