Hurricanes cause vast majority of storm deaths in vulnerable communities

Rescue workers in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, walk past homes wrecked by Superstorm Sandy in 2012. Early reports suggested dozens of people died in the storm, but later assessments found the death toll to be at least 20 times higher. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

A few months after Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico in 2017, the governor announced the official death toll: 64.

To anyone who lived through the storm, as well as scientists nationwide, that number seemed impossibly low. After a flurry of studies, several research teams came up with their own estimates, which were some 15 to 65 times higher than the governor's estimate. Eventually, the official toll settled at 2,975 — 46 times the first number.