Study Puts Puerto Rico Death Toll Near 5,000 From Hurricane Maria In 2017

Perhaps 5,000 people died in Puerto Rico in 2017 for reasons related to September's Hurricane Maria, according to a study that dismisses the official death toll of 64 as "a substantial underestimate."

A research team led by scientists at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health didn't simply attempt to count dead bodies in the wake of the powerful storm. Instead, they surveyed randomly chosen households and asked the occupants about their experiences.

From that approach, they concluded that between Sept. 20 and December 31, 2017, there were 4,645 "excess deaths" – that is, deaths that would not have occurred if the island hadn't been plunged into a prolonged disaster following the devastating storm.

But the estimate isn't as precise as the figure implies. The researchers calculate there's a 95 percent likelihood the death toll was somewhere between about 800 and 8,500 people. They say about 5,000 is a likely figure.

The findings are being published Tuesday by the New England Journal of Medicine.