Official Final Katrina Death Toll?

[drezee]

I have read many articles, but have not found a true “official” death toll. Is there anyone who has a link to a government official death toll? A paper? PDF?

[wxmann_91]

TPC TC report wrote:

The total number of fatalities known, as of this writing, to be either directly or indirectly
related to Katrina is 1833, based on reports to date from state and local officials in five states:
1577 fatalities in Louisiana, 238 in Mississippi, 14 in Florida, 2 in Georgia, and 2 in Alabama.
The total number of fatalities directly related to the forces of Katrina is estimated to be about
1500 spread across four states, with about 1300 of these in Louisiana, about 200 in Mississippi, 6
in Florida, and one in Georgia. Especially for Louisiana and Mississippi, the number of direct
fatalities is highly uncertain and the true number will probably not ever be known. As of this
writing, several hundred persons are still reported missing in association with Katrina, so it is
possible the death toll could grow beyond current estimates.

That was as of 10 Aug 2006

[MGC]

According to the latest update on the NHC site, The deadliest, costliest and intense hurricanes 1851-2006, 1500 deaths were caused by Katrina in 2005. This figure is several hundred short of numbers I have read elsewhere.......MGC

[CrazyC83]

The real death toll will probably never be known. There are a whole whack of numbers. My best guess is around 2,100-2,400.

[CrazyC83]

According to the latest update on the NHC site, The deadliest, costliest and intense hurricanes 1851-2006, 1500 deaths were caused by Katrina in 2005. This figure is several hundred short of numbers I have read elsewhere.......MGC

That 1500 is an estimate for the direct deaths (i.e. actually died by the winds, waves or flooding), which I believe is too high; many were indirect that were likely alive when the storm ended but died in the aftermath due to other causes.

[Category 5]

1,836 I heard.

705 STILL missing. So basically, 2,541.

We'll never know though.

[CrazyC83]

1,836 I heard.

705 STILL missing. So basically, 2,541.

We'll never know though.

I wouldn't say all the missing are dead; I remember hearing that at least 50 of them were found later. It is like missing children cases where a few of them are found years later. Still, I would presume the vast majority of them died, and were swept into the Gulf or were never reported. That is where my 2,400 guess comes in.

As of August (the last reliable update), 1,836 were actually confirmed dead, that is correct. It may be higher now. However, that is certainly not a final death toll (the real number will likely never be known).

I do believe, though, that the NHC has overestimated the direct deaths (particularly in Louisiana). While it is virtually impossible to differentiate and figure out if they actually died due to the actual storm impact or the aftermath, I personally think there were more deaths in the days and weeks (and even months) following the storm, whether it be by disease, starvation, heat, poisoning, accidents or even the criminal activities in Greater New Orleans than there were by the water or the winds. Of the 1,577 deaths listed in Louisiana, I would estimate about 600-700 were direct and about 800-900 were indirect.

[drezee]

Therefore, from your posts I have not missed something. There is no official government death toll numbers.

[drezee]

1,836 I heard.

705 STILL missing. So basically, 2,541.

We'll never know though.

I wouldn't say all the missing are dead; I remember hearing that at least 50 of them were found later. It is like missing children cases where a few of them are found years later. Still, I would presume the vast majority of them died, and were swept into the Gulf or were never reported. That is where my 2,400 guess comes in.

As of August (the last reliable update), 1,836 were actually confirmed dead, that is correct. It may be higher now. However, that is certainly not a final death toll (the real number will likely never be known).

I do believe, though, that the NHC has overestimated the direct deaths (particularly in Louisiana). While it is virtually impossible to differentiate and figure out if they actually died due to the actual storm impact or the aftermath, I personally think there were more deaths in the days and weeks (and even months) following the storm, whether it be by disease, starvation, heat, poisoning, accidents or even the criminal activities in Greater New Orleans than there were by the water or the winds. Of the 1,577 deaths listed in Louisiana, I would estimate about 600-700 were direct and about 800-900 were indirect.

Autopsies where performed on all the bodies, they did not include criminal victims in the list. There were 162 criminal deaths in New Orleans in 2006. The levee breach was caused by the storm and therefore even if you died from drowning in 20 feet of sewage cause by the levee breach...you died from the storm and should be counted.

[LSU2001]

and don't forget bodies are still being found occasionally. There was a story a couple of weeks ago on WWL that said that as demolition occurs on damaged and destroyed homes don't be surprised if there are even more bodies found.
Tim

[Downdraft]

Disaster deaths are rated in 3 categories. Category One deaths are those that were directly killed as a result of the incident and intervention would not have prevented these are color coded black at the incident scene. Category two are those that die as a direct result of the incident but not immediately. These would be those that are critically injured usually trauma reds or even yellows that expire as a direct result of the event but sometime in the immediate future say up to a year. Category three deaths are long term in nature. These can include suicides from post traumatic stress, people physcially disabled by the incident but last several years or even people that contracted a long term illness directly related back to the original incident. The bottom line is it's almost impossible to get an accurate mortality count the longer you go after the original incident. A good case in point is 9-11. As of today firefighters and police officers that worked at ground zero immediatly after the disaster have the highest suicide rates for an occupation anywhere in the country. Are these suicides attributable back to the origianl incident? I would say yes and include them in the total death too but loss prevention experts that have to pay out on the claims continue to argue no. We will never know the "exact" figure from Katrina or 9-11. I'm not even considering despondant/depressed spouses or loved ones that commit suicide as a result of the emotional trauma of losing a loved one that way and watching the replay on t.v. for years to come.

[MGC]

The sad thing is that most of these deaths could have been avoided if people had heeded the evacuation orders. I got the message when I woke up Sunday morning and Katrina had 175mph winds. Visions of Camille flashed through my head. Never thought it could have been worse than Camille though......MGC