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When Hurricane Sandy Went Rogue

<div class="rich-text">What started out as a tropical storm evolved into one of New York City's worst nightmares.</div>
<div class="rich-text"><p>
	Hurricane Sandy was born just like any other tropical storm: the warm water acts as a "heat engine" and produces strong winds. But an unfortunate turn catapulted Sandy into the Northeast&mdash;making it unusually devastating for those living on or near the coast.</p>
</div>
<div class="rich-text"></div>




<div class="rich-text">What started out as a tropical storm evolved into one of New York City's worst nightmares.</div>

Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sandy

<section class="entry-content instapaper_body clearfix" itemprop="articleBody">
<div class="add-container clearfix" id="add-block-placer">
</div>
<p>
  Step back and explore the science behind the hurricanes.  So we at at Secret Life have gathered some helpful articles on your behalf.
 </p>
<p>
<a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/video.cfm?id=instant-egghead-how-do-2012-05-18">
   Scientific American:  How Do Hurricane’s Form In the First Place?
  </a>
</p>
<p>
  Hurricane 101:  A beginner’s guide.
 </p>
<p>
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/washington-dc-braces-for-hurricane-sandy-the-bad-and-the-ugly-storm-scenarios/2012/10/27/f7f9abde-2052-11e2-9cd5-b55c38388962_blog.html#pagebreak">
   Washington Post:  The Bad And the Ugly Storm Scenarios
  </a>
</p>
<p>
  Is it really going to be as bad as they’re saying?  This piece fleshes out each possible scenario.  We know that weather forecasters can be a little on the dramatic side, but it looks like they’ve got good reason this time around.
 </p>
<figure class="richtext-image full-width">
<img alt="" class="richtext-image full-width" src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/sandy_XQcCse7.width-990_692raRc.jpg"/>
<figcaption>Hurricane Sandy
        
    </figcaption>
</figure>
<p>
<a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2012/10/28/163812770/hurricane-csi-frankenstorm-sandy-and-climate-change">
   NPR:  Frankenstorm:  Has Climate Change Created A Monster?
  </a>
</p>
<p>
  It’s never too soon to start pointing fingers at global warming.
 </p>
<p>
<a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/10/hurricane-sandy-is-the-races-october-surprise.html">
   New York Magazine:  It Looks Like Hurricane Sandy Is the Presidential Race’s October Surprise
  </a>
</p>
<p>
  Will Sandy help decide who becomes our next president?  Something tells us that she’s one of those pesky undecided voters.
 </p>
<p>
</p>
</section>
  

  
      6.html?mod=wsj_share_twitter"&gt;
   The Wall Street Journal:  Compare Sandy to Irene
<p>
 Who wore it better?  The hurricane edition.
</p>
<p>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;v;=jgrllVs2DDw_">
  NASA Earth Observatory:  Hurricane Sandy Super Rapid Scan
 </a>
</p>
<p>
 Hurricane Sandy’s formation, from the vantage point of geostationary orbit— 22,300 miles above the Earth.
</p>

In Florida, Hurricane Preparation Helped Prevent Overdoses

<section class="entry-content instapaper_body clearfix" itemprop="articleBody">
<div class="add-container clearfix" id="add-block-placer">
</div>
<p>
  As Hurricane Irma was heading toward Florida, Dr. Hensel Tookes and his team were handing out clean needles and Narcan, a drug that can reverse the effects of opioids, to residents of Miami.
 </p>
<p>
  The impending storm meant that people in recovery could lose access to their medications and with the added stress, they could turn to heroin or fentanyl and possibly overdose. By handing out Narcan and clean needles, Tookes was hoping to prevent overdoses.
 </p>
<figure class="richtext-image full-width">
<img alt="" class="richtext-image full-width" src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/hurricane-irma_1024x576_xZPpHHK.width-990_Widnfzu.jpg"/>
<figcaption>Hurricane Irma on September 10, right before landfall on Florida
        
    </figcaption>
</figure>
<p>
  “Hurricanes are stressful, but I think my major concern was people who were reliant on medication-assisted treatment, especially Suboxone and methadone, would not have access to those services in the event of a major storm,” he said, “and therefore would be likely to use heroin and have a risk for overdose because the heroin and the fentanyl on the streets is an extremely powerful combination.”
 </p>
<p>
  The Miami needle exchange program, as well as other efforts in Florida, seemed to work, he said. While he did not hear of any reports of the Narcan being used at shelters, others who used the needle exchange program reported that they had used Narcan to revive people in their communities.
 </p>
<p>
  “Our participants were truly the first responders to their communities, which was great,” Tookes said.
 </p>
<p>
  Giving out Narcan was a suggestion of the National Harm Reduction Coalition, Tookes said, but it was also based on others’ previous experiences with hurricanes. Houston had just been hit by Harvey, and Sandy in 2012 left behind lessons for addressing the opioid problem.
 </p>
<p>
  “We were very prepared for Hurricane Irma as a state as a whole,” Tookes said.
 </p>
<p>
  Shelters in Palm Beach County, Florida, had overdoses, according to local news coverage, but neither shelters in Miami nor Tampa did. Although one shelter in Tampa had a woman go into labor, Tampa Police Department spokesman Stephen Hegarty said in an email.
 </p>
<p>
  Florida’s Department of Children and Families worked to make sure hurricane shelters had Narcan in case of overdoses, spokesman David Frady said in an email. The shelters also had first responders who could administer the drug, he said.
 </p>
<p>
  The state also worked with methadone clinics to provide a week’s supply of a methadone, a medication used to help people with substance abuse disorder, said Corine Stancil, the state opioid treatment authority.
 </p>
<p>
  Making sure people had a week’s supply of medication was important because many facilities were shut down for days during Hurricane Irma, Tookes said. His needle exchange program was closed for six days, and they were one of the earlier programs to open back up, he said.
 </p>
<p>
  Hurricanes also affects the flow of heroin and fentanyl. With infrastructure down, it makes it more difficult for people to get access to the illicit substance. And despite the common misconception, people don’t stockpile their heroin, said Dr. Babak Tofighi, an associate professor of medicine at New York University who interviewed more than 80 people using medication-assisted opioid treatment during Hurricane Sandy.
 </p>
<p>
  With infrastructure down, access to medication was one of the issues during Sandy. In New York, flooding inundated the hospital where his patients received treatment, Tofighi said.
 </p>
<p>
  “The biggest public health need post disaster isn’t cuts and bruises from falling debris, it’s actually people that run out of medicine,” he said.
 </p>
<p>
  The lack of access to medication is why states need to give clinics permission for take home doses of medication used to treat substance abuse disorder, he said.
 </p>
<p>
  “They need to give take home doses of methadone. They give take home doses of Suboxone in advance just in case roads, a lot of other infrastructure is destroyed and act as a barrier for patients coming back to treatment,” Tofighi said.
 </p>
<p>
  Tookes said that Miami’s opioid response has returned to normal. Now he’s looking to Puerto Rico, which was hit by Hurricane Maria shortly after Irma. Tofighi predicted that people will relapse with the lack of access to medication-assisted treatment, although it might not be immediate since it could take time for the heroin and fentanyl supply to return as well.
 </p>
<p>
  With the damage to the infrastructure and that fact that many of the territory’s clinics are not open, Tookes said he has a hard time picturing the opioid scene in Puerto Rico.
 </p>
<p>
  “You know you can’t even compare the situation we had in Miami to what’s going on in Puerto Rico,” Tookes said.
 </p>
</section>
<p>
 Image credit: NOAA/NASA
</p>

Repairing the Beach After Sandy

<div class="rich-text">To rebuild the coastline, engineers are pumping sand onto New York's Coney Island beach.</div>
<div class="rich-text"><p>
	Coney Island has a long history of beach nourishment&mdash;the process of adding sand to a coastal area to repair an eroded beach. It was the site of the first beach nourishment project ever in the 1920s, and in the months since Hurricane Sandy, a new beach nourishment project has begun. But will it still make sense to repair the beach in another few decades?</p>
</div>
<div class="rich-text"><h3>
 Repairing the Beach After Sandy
</h3>
<p>
 November 28, 2013
</p>
<p>
 NARRATOR: What a wild ride. Five months after the cyclone called Sandy hit New York, they opened the other Cyclone: the roller coaster at Coney Island.
</p>
<p>
 CHUCK SCHUMER: We have here something that shows the resilience of New York. Anybody who doubts that New York would not come back bigger and better and stronger after Sandy, well, we have erased those doubts today with the great reopening of Coney Island and Luna Park.
</p>
<p>
 NARRATOR: Democrat Chuck Schumer is New York’s senior senator. While he was speaking, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was gearing up to bring back the beach at Coney Island. A $48 million project paid with federal funding.
</p>
<p>
 DAN FALT: Hurricane Sandy stole more than 1.5 million cubic yards of sand from this beach. We’re beginning a project that ultimately will replace 3.5 million cubic yards of sand.
</p>
<p>
 NARRATOR: It is called beach nourishment. It is widely used all over the country—in places where rising seas and subsiding land threaten beaches. It is an effective—but temporary—way to protect coastal property and preserve sunny days at the beach.
</p>
<p>
 Dan Falt is Project Manager with the Corps of Engineers New York District.
</p>
<p>
 DAN FALT: We could basically fill two-and-a-half Empire State buildings with the amount of sand we’re going to place in this five mile stretch.
</p>
<p>
 NARRATOR: The scale is large, but the concept is simple: a dredging barge anchors near a good source of sand offshore and pumps it on to the beach. Bulldozers spread and smooth things out.
</p>
<p>
 DAN FALT: This sand right now is being pumped from three miles away through pipes submerged under water and basically pumped onto the beach. It picks it up off the bottom of the ocean and it’s pumped in a slurry, and bulldozers move it around and place it to the proper grade.
</p>
<p>
 NARRATOR: Coney Island is where it all began. The first beach nourishment project ever happened here in in the early 1920s. But will they be pumping sand on this beach 90 years from now? It is a matter of charting the high cost versus the benefits.
</p>
<p>
 JOE VIETRI: The curves start going like this where the costs go way up, the benefits start coming way down. But we do have 25, 30 years to make those decisions.
</p>
<p>
 NARRATOR: Joe Vietri is the Director of the Corps National Planning Center of Expertise for Coastal and Storm Risk Management.
</p>
<p>
 JOE VIETRI: You have to be able to adapt to this very changing future scenario. The bottom line for us to think about it is it makes a lot of sense to put sand on the beach in Rockaways right now. It makes a lot of sense to look at providing protection both on the bay and the ocean side right now. But I would not suggest to you that 30 years from now or 35 years from now that that might still make a lot of sense.
</p></div>




<div class="rich-text">To rebuild the coastline, engineers are pumping sand onto New York's Coney Island beach.</div>

How Did Hurricane Matthew Become So Threatening So Quickly?

<section class="entry-content instapaper_body clearfix" itemprop="articleBody">
<div class="add-container clearfix" id="add-block-placer">
</div>
<p>
  Hurricane Matthew has killed hundreds in Haiti and is causing devastation as it churns up the southeast coast of the U.S., a massive storm fueled by unusually warm waters—1 to 3° F above normal in some places.
 </p>
<p>
  While it is too early to determine how climate change shaped Matthew—that will involve computer modeling and other historical analyses—we know that this is an unusual storm, and we can pinpoint a few general ways in which global warming could be contributing to its strength.
 </p>
<figure class="richtext-image full-width">
<img alt="" class="richtext-image full-width" src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/hurricane-matthew-goes.width-990_FwB5LaR.jpg"/>
<figcaption>This visible image from NOAA's GOES-East satellite shows the location of Hurricane Matthew on October 7 at 2:30 pm EDT.
        
    </figcaption>
</figure>
<p>
  Warm water fuels hurricanes, and over the past week, water temperatures have been about 85° F in the Caribbean where Matthew first intensified. While that is a little above normal, the water off the Atlantic coast is even warmer when compared to the seasonal normal. Average ocean temperatures have risen over the last century,
  <a href="http://ccimgs.s3.amazonaws.com/2016SST/2016SST_Map_en_title_lg.jpg">
   with parts of the Atlantic now 1-2°F warmer than a century ago
  </a>
  . While warm water isn’t the only factor that determines how strong a hurricane can get, it is a key ingredient.
 </p>
<p>
  There is the expectation that hurricanes and typhoons across the globe will last longer and produce more rain by the end of the century, according to the research compiled in the
  <a href="http://www.climatechange2013.org/report/full-report/">
   2013 IPCC Fifth Assessment Report
  </a>
  . In addition, the frequency of the most intense storms may increase, but the
  <em>
   overall
  </em>
  number of hurricanes may not necessarily increase.
 </p>
<p>
  On top of that, sea level rise, which is already occurring and is well documented, will make the coastlines more vulnerable in the coming decades to the storm surges that accompany hurricanes. Already, over the last century, greenhouse warming has added about eight inches of sea level rise. Taken together, studies on future sea level rise forecast an additional 3 feet of rise by the end of the century. As a result, even if there were no increase in the strength of hurricanes, the amount of potential damage from their flooding storm surge, when compounded by sea level rise, would increase.
 </p>
<p>
  Matthew’s path has also been unusual, although it does bear some resemblance to Hazel in 1954. Matthew has been the only hurricane on record to make landfall as a Category 3 or stronger storm in Haiti, Cuba, and the Bahamas.
 </p>
<p>
  The major hurricane drought in the U.S.—no major hurricane coming ashore since Wilma in 2005—has largely been a fluke of the steering winds when the hurricanes have formed. (Again, remember that Sandy, despite the devastation, didn’t count as a “major” hurricane.) The hurricane seasons since 2005 have been active, and
  <a href="http://ccimgs.s3.amazonaws.com/2016OctoberNightsBelow/2016DecadalHurricanes_en_title_lg.jpg">
   landfalls have occurred in other parts of the Atlantic basin
  </a>
  , including Mexico and the Caribbean Islands.
 </p>
<p>
  Scientists will also be closely watching what happens after today. Initially, it was believed that Matthew would take the climatologically favored track of a northeastward turn, hugging the coast of the Carolinas and then heading out to sea. This often happens as a hurricane drifts northward until reaching the westerly steering winds of the jet stream. But over the past day or so, the models predict that this track less likely to happen. The jet stream winds travel in waves, and it was hoped that one of the waves would dip far enough southward toward Matthew to effectively grab it and whisk it offshore. Most of the available computer simulations now suggest that the dip in the jet stream will bypass Matthew to the north, leaving it to drift off the Southeast Coast for at least a few more days.
 </p>
<p>
  Perhaps most distressingly, some of these simulations indicate that Matthew could take a circular course, revisiting east coast of Florida next week. It’s a disturbing scenario, but it’s important to remember that five-day position forecasts for hurricanes can err by more than 200 miles, so it’s by no means certain this will happen. Even if it does, the environment will no longer be favorable for the storm to maintain its current strength, so a full-fledged double whammy to the Florida coast is not likely.
 </p>
<p>
  In the coming weeks, as scientists start probing climate change’s role in fueling Matthew, they will also be investigating its remarkable growth.
 </p>
<p>
  It is unusual for a hurricane to maintain the intensity that Matthew has had this late into the season. According to Phil Klotzbach, the hurricane researcher at Colorado State, Matthew is the longest-lived major hurricane on record forming after September 25 in the Atlantic basin. (Semantics can be tricky. By definition, a major hurricane is a Category 3 (Winds of 111 mph) or stronger, and while storms like Sandy in 2012 and Hermine earlier this year had huge impacts, their wind speeds did not qualify them as a major hurricanes.)
 </p>
<p>
  Klotzbach also indicated that the speed at which the storm intensified was unusual, having the third strongest 24-hour intensification on record in the Atlantic, going from a Category 1 to 5 on September 30.
 </p>
<p>
  One measurement of a storm’s duration and intensity is called Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE), which takes into account a hurricane’s winds over time. Matthew has generated the most ACE by any Atlantic hurricane in over a decade, according to Klotzbach. And before it fades away—which could be several more days—it may be one of the highest ACE generators in the last half-century.
 </p>
<div class="cove-box flex-video" data-cove-id="2305482040" data-cove-params="&amp;topbar=false">
</div>
<div class="inline-caption">
  Was another devastating—Sandy—a freak combination of weather systems? Or are hurricanes increasing in intensity due to a warming climate?
 </div>
</section>
<p>
 Image credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project
</p>

Spanish Shipwrecks Unveil Centuries of Hurricane Patterns

<section class="entry-content instapaper_body clearfix" itemprop="articleBody">
<div class="add-container clearfix" id="add-block-placer">
</div>
<p>
  Dead men tell no tales—but it turns out Caribbean shipwrecks can tell us about the climate in the days of yore.
 </p>
<p>
  Scientists studying how climate change influences hurricanes have been faced with a problem: the U.S. only started keeping track of the storms in 1851. To figure out hurricane patterns of the deeper past, researchers needed a different record.
 </p>
<p>
  During the Age of Sail, hurricanes were the primary cause for shipwrecks in reports from that time. The researchers looked at records of Spanish ships in the Caribbean Sea from 1495-1825, and the list of shipwrecks told a riveting tale. While dozens of vessels sunk each year in stormy periods, 1645-1715 was a better time for the Spanish fleet, with only a few ships sinking each year.
 </p>
<figure class="richtext-image full-width">
<img alt="" class="richtext-image full-width" src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/bountysinking.width-990_eh8gLuR.jpg"/>
<figcaption>A replica of the HMS Bounty sunk in 2012 after its captain sailed it into the path of Hurricane Sandy.
        
    </figcaption>
</figure>
<p>
  It turns out that this period was one of global cooling, often called the Maunder Minimum or “Little Ice Age.” During this time, the sun’s light dimmed, cooling the planet and leading to more El Niño events that keep the Atlantic from producing large storms.
 </p>
<p>
  To compare this record to something we can measure today, the researchers looked at tree rings in Florida slash pines, which date back to 1707. The pines grow more slowly in years with hurricanes, and growth rings from that time confirm the storm pattern suggested by the shipwrecks. Combining what they learned from the pines, shipwrecks, and modern records, the scientists patched together a picture of how a cooler climate put the brakes on the development of hurricanes in the Atlantic.
 </p>
<p>
  The study could have important uses in predicting what might happen with tropical cyclone frequency if the planet’s atmosphere warms.
 </p>
<p>
  Here’s Chris Mooney,
  <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/03/07/what-these-ancient-shipwrecks-could-be-telling-us-about-climate-change/">
   reporting
  </a>
  for the Washington Post:
 </p>
<blockquote>
<p>
   The result does not lead to any forecast when it comes to the hurricanes of the future, but at the same time, it’s certainly suggestive. After all, hurricanes derive their energy from the heat stored in tropical oceans. If seas are cooler — as they were between 1645 and 1715, when the Earth received less radiation from the sun — then there’s less explosive energy for storms to draw upon. If they’re warmer, as they are today, then all else being equal, there’s more opportunity for extreme storm intensification.
  </p>
</blockquote>
<p>
  Even though most of us don’t sail in tall ships these days, this study suggests that  people living on the coast might have to batten down the hatches if the climate continues to warm.
 </p>
</section>
<p>
 Photo credit:
 <a href="https://app.ntsb.gov/news/2014/140210.html">
  National Transportation Safety Board
 </a>
 .
</p>

Puerto Rican residents walk in flooded streets in Condado, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Hurricane Maria-Related Deaths May Be 70 Times Official Estimate

<div class="related"></div>
<p>
<i>
  Editor’s Note: This article was
 </i>
<a href="http://app.nationalproduction.wgbh.org/e/es.aspx?s=2531&amp;e=1043777&amp;elqTrackId=87bceb0e8d45455b8e6ff9d7c932edc8&amp;elq=94eb46991dba4771b6494649ca3243c9&amp;elqaid=5150&amp;elqat=1">
<i>
   originally published
  </i>
</a>
<i>
  in an edition of NOVA’s email newsletter, NOVA Lens, and has now been repurposed for NOVA Next. Sign up for NOVA Lens
 </i>
<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/newsletters.html">
<i>
   here
  </i>
</a>
<i>
  (select “NOVA Newsletters”).
 </i>
</p>
<p>
 Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico almost a year ago, but scientists are still trying to unpack the many layers of damage it inflicted on the island.
</p>
<p>
 Researchers are becoming more certain, though, of a sobering reality: Disaster deaths can last for far longer than we suspect.
</p>
<p>
<a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1803972">
  A new study
 </a>
 by a group of researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and other institutions suggests that the number of deaths caused by Maria in a three-month period (from impact on September 20 until that December) could figure around 4,600 people. Perhaps more importantly, this estimate (if accurate) would mean the mortality rate during this window of time was 62% higher than the mortality rate during the same period the year before.
</p>
<p>
 This unexpectedly large number of what scientists are calling “excess deaths” surpasses the number of people who died in Hurricane Katrina (1,833) and the September 11, 2001 terror attacks (2,996). Meanwhile, the government’s official casualty count from Hurricane Maria remains comparatively low (64).
</p>
<p>
 The process of determining fatalities is a messy one, plagued with uncertainties. Much of the time, people struck by a catastrophe like Hurricane Maria die alone—maybe even forgotten. In other cases, they survive the initial disaster but die weeks or months later due to lack of medical supplies, food, or water.
</p>
<p>
 In Puerto Rico, disaster-related deaths have to be confirmed by the Institute of Forensic Sciences, which means bodies need to be brought to San Juan or examiners themselves have to make the trek over to the deceased. Because of this, officials and researchers will often turn to door-to-door sampling of communities in order to get a sense of how many people were lost to a specific weather event.
</p>
<p>
 For this particular analysis, researchers visited more than 3,000 residences across Puerto Rico and spoke with people who were still living there. They wanted to make their interviews as unbiased as possible, so they asked simple questions and let occupants report their difficulties from their own perspective. Collectively, these residents reported 38 deaths amongst their households. The team of scientists then converted that number into a mortality rate and then extrapolated the data to the overall population.
</p>
<div class="ad"></div>
<p>
 In addition to finding that the number of excess deaths in 2017 has a 95% chance of being between 800 and 8,000 (called a “confidence interval”), the team also discovered—and this is the crux of their paper—that the death rate stayed abnormally high through December.
</p>
<p>
 “We think of these disasters as a one-time thing and then it’s over and you’re rebuilding,” said Satchit Balsari, a research fellow at the Harvard FXB Center for Health and Human Rights and one of the lead authors on the study. “But look at what happened to the medical system in Manhattan [after Hurricane Sandy]. We reeled from that upsurge in patient volume for at least one year. We lost hospitals, and patients were seeking care elsewhere. We really need to address this as a country and as a society.”
</p>
<p>
 The study’s authors emphasize that the number being reported is just a calculated estimate, though. For a more detailed measure, researchers will need to do follow-up studies and probabilistic analyses (ones that convey the probability of each possible death count). The next big study that’s expected to hit the presses is one out of George Washington University this summer—it will assess the territory’s vital records as well as documentation from funeral homes, the medical system, and information from the public at large.
</p>
<p>
 “The survey is a relatively small sample, and so the number itself is not a precise estimate. There are very large margins of error,” said Caroline Bukee, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and one of the lead authors on the study. “But even our lowest estimate is 10 times higher than the official one.”
</p>
<p>
 The data is open to the public, which means other researchers and organizations can dive into it with their own interpretations, expound on the findings, or use it to move in new policy directions. “We think it’s really important to put the numbers out there and then let people analyze it in multiple different ways,” Bukee said.
</p>
<p>
 One of the most immediate concerns the study brings up is the lack of access to medical care in Puerto Rico after the hurricane. About 15% of people interviewed reported that they struggled to get the medicine they needed, and about 10% said they couldn’t use breathing equipment, which relies on electricity.
</p>
<p>
 “The focus here is on the fact that the mortality rate was higher, and remained higher, for months after,” Balsari said. “We don’t know who in our neighborhoods is on dialysis, who’s on respiratory machines, who needs medical care. This is not the kind of granular information we have about our communities. That kind of community preparedness really needs to be built in.”
</p>
<div class="newsletter"></div>
<p>
 Photo credit: National Guard, Sgt. Jose Ahiram Diaz-Ramos
</p>

<p>A new study by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researchers and other institutions suggests that the number of deaths caused by Maria in a three-month period (from impact onward) could figure around 4,600 people.</p>