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Extreme Weather Events

    Climate change will bring several changes in the weather, including increasingly frequent severe storms and extreme precipitation events. Extreme lack of precipitation, or drought, and associated conditions such as wildfires, will also be more common. The likely effect on hurricane activity, specifically, is still being studied; current expert opinion holds that hurricanes will increase in severity though they may actually decrease in frequency. The magnitude of these effects is not yet clear.

    Storms and extreme precipitation events have several direct health effects. They are associated with flooding, which can immediately cause injury and death, followed by a spike in traumatic injury and carbon monoxide poisoning during redevelopment and rebuilding efforts when the events are severe enough to prompt evacuation and resettlement. Storms resulting in evacuation are also associated with increased risk for gastrointestinal illness among evacuees. Extreme precipitation events are also associated with outbreaks of gastrointestinal disease, though the cause of this relationship is not clear. Safe water practices, improved hygiene and sanitation, and food safety can all reduce these gastrointestinal effects. Adequate warning and preventive action, including evacuation, have been shown to reduce the direct health effects of storms.

    Extreme precipitation events also have several indirect health effects that can be more far reaching than the direct impacts. Severe storms can cause significant infrastructure damage and population dislocation. Extreme precipitation events can interrupt medical care, causing aggravation of chronic medical and psychiatric conditions. Loss of industrial infrastructure and employment often further intensify mental health concerns. Hurricane Katrina, for instance, was the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history, and has had lasting indirect effects on the mental and physical health of tens of thousands of evacuees.

    Additional Information about Extreme Weather Events


  • CDC Floods Website
    http://www.emergency.cdc.gov/disasters/floods/


    • Additional Readings about Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events


  • Bernard S, McGeehin M. Municipal heat wave response plans. Amer J Publ Hlth. 94(9): 1520-1522, 2004.
  • Greenough G, McGeehin M, Bernard S, Trtanj J. The potential impacts of climate change on health impacts of extreme weather events in the United States. Env Health Pers. 109: 185-189, 2001.