By Thomas Goldsmith

Hurricane Florence hit older Tar Heels harder.

That’s the takeaway from a state-compiled list of the adults who died as a result of the catastrophic storm. It shows that two out of three North Carolinians who died during or as a result of Florence were 60 or older, and nearly half were 70 or older. The median age of adults who died during or as a result of the storm was 67, while the statewide median age is 38.3.

“Vulnerable adults are more likely to be impacted because of their social isolation, or not having the supports they needed in areas like transportation,” said Heather Burkhardt, program coordinator at Resources for Seniors in Raleigh.

The list of deaths tied to the catastrophic September storm grew to 39 on Oct. 1, when Gov. Roy Cooper announced two deaths, one of a Pender County man, 69, who fell off a roof Sept. 22 while repairing storm damage. A list supplied by the Department of Public Safety showed that people older than 65 represented:

• Six of 11 people who drowned in motor vehicle accidents,
• Five of six people who died of medical causes such as cardiopulmonary distress or COPD
• Three of five who died doing cleanup and
• A couple, 86, who died in a fire caused by the use of candles while power was out.

Three of the victims were infants and two others did not have listed ages. Of the 34 adult deaths with ages attached, 21 were older than 65.

Perhaps the most poignant death was that of a man, 82, who committed suicide in Carteret County after Florence devastated his home. “Shot self when house condemned,” read the terse DPS account of the death.

“Florence cut a broad path of death and destruction through our state and we will not soon forget this storm or the lives it claimed,” Cooper said.

Some North Carolina counties most affected by Florence have a greater percentages of people older than 65 than the statewide average of 15.6 percent. But two of the hardest hit, New Hanover and Duplin counties, had shares of older people within a percentage point of the state average.

In a historical comparison, about 63 percent of people older than 65 were counted among those who died in one the worst disasters in United States history, Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

“There was this acknowledgment that older people and people with disabilities did not fare well in Katrina,” Burkhardt said.

In North Carolina, 61 percent of adults who died in Hurricane Florence were older than 65.

“Disproportionate risk”

People in social work and emergency management have long made known the perils faced by older people and those with disabilities in hurricanes and other disasters. Burkhardt and Dennis Streets, then director of the state Division of Aging and Adult Services, worked a decade ago on the state report called DEEM, for Disability and Elderly Emergency Management.

“Anecdotal and factual evidence shows that older adults and people with disabilities are at disproportionate risk during disasters,” the 2008 report said. “Unfortunately, many of our state’s elderly and people with disabilities face economic and transportation challenges, are more dependent on outside assistance, and often misjudged as less capable.”

Lack of ready money might keep people in the low-income regions hit by Florence from staving off some of disasters’ effects.

“Some seniors don’t have money to get a hotel room,” Burkhardt said.

Streets, executive director of the Chatham County Council on Aging, said the DEEM report pointed out remedies that are still publicized by the state and in many cases used by residents.

“We talked about the importance of having an emergency communications plan where relatives and friends can know what they should do in a disaster,” Streets said.

Some deaths delayed

The report also urged residents to keep information about themselves available, making sure that medications and treatment plans are easy to find and making extra copies of insurance policies and other key documents.

Streets was surprised at the numbers of older people who died in the storm. But he also noted that the toll may continue to rise, as it did in Katrina, and more recently, in the tragic toll suffered by Puerto Rico in Hurricane Maria. The thought reminded Streets of something that happened after an earlier storm-related flood.

“I remember distinctly going to Pender County and stopping by to see one of our Meals on Wheels clients,” Streets said. “He was sitting on his back porch on a cooler. He showed me where the water had come up … and inside the house was all moldy.

“I remember sitting there with him. He was determined, of course, to stay in his house.”

The survivor’s wife and one of his daughters had died.

“He was in late 80s. He was a very strong, determined individual but had undergone tremendous stress,” Streets said.

“I went back to check on him a few months later and found he had died.”

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