Seniors More Vulnerable to Heat Waves and Hurricanes, Both Forecasted to Be Severe this Summer

When Hurricane Ian whipped through Florida in 2022, it left a path of devastation in its wake. Cars sank alongside boats on flooded streets, while once-extravagant houses were reduced to piles of jagged wood by the time this category 4 storm finally relented.

The hurricane claimed the lives of 156 individuals—more than half of whom were 60 years or older. 

As unsettling as these numbers are, they are not surprising; throughout history, older populations have made up the majority of mortalities during weather-related disasters. That also includes heat waves, which take the lives of an untold number of older individuals each year. Both of these extreme weather events are expected to become increasingly frequent and severe as climate change accelerates.

The next few months could prove especially threatening to seniors in the U.S.: Scientists predict this summer to be one of the hottest on record and, on Thursday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued an abnormally active forecast for the upcoming hurricane season, which spans until the end of November. 

For today’s newsletter, I am exploring why elderly individuals are particularly vulnerable during climate-fueled hurricanes and heat waves, and what experts say needs to happen to protect older populations in disasters. 

Hurricane Havoc: One of the most effective ways to prevent serious injuries from a hurricane is to avoid it altogether by evacuating. However, that’s often easier said than done for older populations, which are more likely to face mobility issues. 

Without additional support, this can have tragic consequences: During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, 35 residents of St. Rita’s nursing home in Louisiana were left to drown in wheelchairs and beds as the facility filled with water. Strong winds and rains can also knock out the power of nursing homes, leaving residents without air conditioning or clean water, which happened to tens of thousands of seniors in Florida during Hurricane Irma in 2017. 

Even if older individuals are able to evacuate, the destination can be harrowing in its own way. In 2021, residents of South Lafourche Nursing and Rehab were relocated to a former pesticide warehouse, where they faced severe neglect, which Nick Tabor detailed in an investigation for Grist. In other cases, the actual act of leaving a home can be debilitating for elderly individuals, particularly those with diseases like Alzheimer’s or dementia, according to a recent study. 

“Removing assisted living residents from their familiar environments, especially those with conditions like dementia or mobility limitations, can be incredibly stressful and disruptive,” study author David Dosa, an associate professor of medicine at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School, said in a statement. “Our findings suggest that stress from evacuation may outweigh some of the intended safety benefits.”

Extreme Heat: In Sunday’s newsletter, I pointed out a new study that found more than 200 million older people worldwide will be regularly exposed to chronic and acute heat by 2050 under current climate change forecasts. 

Two key factors helped the researchers come to this number: Global temperatures are spiking, and the world’s population is aging overall. By 2050, the number of people ages 60 and above will double to nearly 2.1 billion, accounting for 21 percent of the global population—a 7 percent jump from where we are today, according to the study. 

While mobility issues can also come into play during heat waves, this chunk of individuals experiences heat in a different way physiologically than younger populations. For one, older bodies are less effective at sweating, which is the main way we cool ourselves down on a hot, summer day. 

Seniors are also more likely to have age-related health conditions such as Alzheimer’s, heart, lung and kidney disease that are all exacerbated by heat. Compounding the problem, medications used to treat these types of conditions like diuretics and beta-blockers can cause dehydration, and some medicines can lose their effectiveness if stored in temperatures greater than 77 degrees Fahrenheit, the researchers say. 

“Regardless of where or when a heat wave strikes, one pattern is a constant: Older adults are the most likely to die from extreme heat, and this crisis will worsen in the coming years,” study author Deborah Carr, a sociology professor at Boston University, and several of her co-authors wrote in The Conversation. “Policymakers, communities, families and older residents themselves need to understand these risks and be prepared because of older adults’ special vulnerabilities to heat.”

Ironically, seniors have long migrated to the states that most frequently experience high-intensity heat waves or hurricanes (or both), including Arizona and Florida. 

So What Needs to Change? In 2016, the U.S. federal government passed the Emergency Preparedness Rule, which requires facilities that receive funds from Medicare or Medicaid to “plan adequately for both natural and manmade disasters,” and complete training to help meet the needs of patients during a disaster. 

While this plan “sounds great on paper,” enforcement can vary depending on where you are, Danielle Arigoni, managing director for policy and solutions at the National Housing Trust, told Bloomberg News.  

“Subsequent efforts [after the bill’s passage], particularly under the Trump administration, sought to roll back some of those reporting requirements, citing that it was a burden to institutions. And so what we have now is an uneven patchwork of enforcement across states,” said Arigoni, who recently published the book “Climate Resilience for an Aging Nation.”

Along with beefing up disaster training under this rule, building owners should secure backup generators in facilities with a large percentage of residents over 60 to ensure there will be power for air conditioning during heat waves and hurricanes, experts say. 

Some places are already doing this, such as Babcock Ranch in Southwest Florida, a community north of Fort Myers powered entirely by solar panels. Now home to many retirees, the housing development was one of few communities in this area of Florida left relatively unscathed by Hurricane Ian due to the way it was built, with retaining ponds to avoid flooding and underground power lines. Other local governments and nonprofits are currently passing out hurricane supply kits for seniors, complete with flashlights, emergency weather radios, body wipes and more, reports ABC News. 

However, as climate impacts unfold, the first step for local officials should simply be figuring out where older populations are actually living—whether in retirement communities or their own homes—to better connect them with resources during disasters, according to Arigoni. 

“So every single decision that a locality makes these days needs to be put through the filter of: Will it help us become more resilient to climate change?”

More Top Climate News

On Monday, the EPA issued an “enforcement alert” detailing the warning of cybersecurity threats to community drinking water systems. 

Cyber attacks on the nation’s water system have increased to the point that “additional action is critical” as 70 percent of local systems are not up to par on security measures. Some facilities had not updated the default passwords in their equipment or have single logins that can “easily be compromised,” according to the EPA release. Successful cyber attacks could put water access in jeopardy or cause overflows in facilities, reports Justine Calma for the Verge.

Meanwhile, a new study found that kangaroos and wallabies in Australia are more afraid of humans than any other predator. This adds to a growing body of research finding species across the animal kingdom—from lions to badgers—flee from people more than almost any other threat, making humans the ultimate “super predators,” the study’s authors say. 

On the topic of heat waves, countries and states around the world, including India and Mexico, have been experiencing rolling blackouts as rising temperatures and increased energy usage overwhelm their grids, reports Bloomberg News. This can be deadly because it leaves many regions without access to air conditioning and people are left to fend for themselves in temperatures well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit.