The Role of Communication in Preventing Hurricane Drowning Deaths: Can We Do Better?

Background: Public health communication and warning is an essential tool in preventing injury and death during a hurricane. However, health communication is limited in its ability to stop all preventable deaths. During Hurricane Matthew, despite many health promotion messages from CDC and states about not driving in floodwaters, out of 23 deaths in 4 states, 78% occurred by drowning in motor vehicles (e.g., vehicle driven into standing water, vehicle swept away by water, or person found in car (Wang, MMWR, February 2017). Indeed, between 1963 and 2012, 88 percent of all hurricane deaths were from water and not wind. These types of water- and driving-related deaths occur each time a storm hits the United States and many are preventable.

Program background: This presentation will discuss CDC’s and the broader public health approach to educating the public about preventable drowning deaths during hurricanes, focusing specifically on drowning in cars, and look at the limitations of communication messages, using Hurricane Matthew as a case example.

Evaluation Methods and Results: The presentation will use surveillance data reported by CDC in MMWR to look at hurricane Matthew-related deaths, death certificate data from WONDER, evaluation data from CDC’s Joint Information Center regarding social media and message reach, and briefly cover the research base on emergency communication during hurricanes and health outcomes. Questions we will examine will include: How do you make sure messages are reaching the correct target audience? If the right audience receives the message, what barriers prevent them from taking action? Which populations are most at risk? And what new actions can health communicators take to make up for the gaps and unknowns? 

Conclusions: Public health officials communicating about preventable hurricane-related deaths is necessary. We must continue to refine messages and delivery to help close the gap on preventable car drowning deaths, understanding that communication is but one factor in preventing injury and death during a hurricane.  

Implications for research and/or practice:  Open discussions about the nature of the limitations of public health emergency communications in preventing storm-related deaths is necessary in order to identify areas where we may improve communications; including identifying audiences most at risk; and building partnerships to ensure the right audiences are hearing the right messages from the right sources to be as effective as possible. References: Rappaport, Edward. Fatalities in the United States from Atlantic Tropical Cyclones: New Data and Interpretation. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. May 1 2014. Savoia, Elena, Lin, Leesa and Viswanath, K. Communications in Public Health Emergency Preparedness: A Systematic Review of the Literature. Biosecur Bioterror. 2013 Sep; 11(3): 170-184. Wang, Alice et al. Notes from the Field: Mortality Associated with Hurricane Matthew – United States, October 2016. MMWR. Feb 10, 2016. 66(5); 145-146.