"Newly released numbers from the National Hurricane Center suggest the threat from rainfall and rip currents has grown during the past decade."

"On Tuesday, new research released by the National Hurricane Center underscored the threat posed by water in hurricanes — finding that over the past decade, rainfall flooding has accounted for nearly 60% of all U.S. deaths from tropical cyclones.

Though previous research concluded storm surge — seawater pushed ashore by the strong winds of a hurricane — accounted for nearly half of all U.S. tropical cyclone deaths from 1963-2012, since 2013 storm surge has been responsible for only about one in 10 direct hurricane fatalities.

During the more recent period, Hurricane Ian in 2022 caused 41 of the 50 (82%) storm-surge-related deaths since 2013. And 2017’s Hurricane Harvey, despite causing more direct deaths than any hurricane included in the latest study, accounted for only 25% of all rainfall-induced flooding deaths over the past decade. The new numbers indicate the tropical cyclone rainfall threat is prolific — regardless of storm intensity and hurricane category — and less tied to episodic catastrophic hurricanes like Ian."

Michael Lowry reports for Yale Climate Connections August 9, 2023. [2]