As climate change intensifies, the frequency and severity of extreme weather events are on the rise. From hurricanes and wildfires to floods and heatwaves, these events are not just environmental issues—they're major health concerns. Understanding how severe weather impacts your health is crucial for preparedness and resilience.
Severe weather can affect health in numerous ways:
- Hurricanes and coastal storms generate projectiles and debris that can cause injury during the event. They can also increase the potential for hazardous chemicals and waterborne and vector-borne pathogens to spread through communities and the environment due to facility damage, storm surge, and flooding.
- Flood events and sea level rise can contaminate water with harmful bacteria and viruses that cause foodborne and waterborne illnesses not to mention the spread of diseases like malaria and cholera.
- When floodwaters recede from indoor spaces, there is increased risk of mold growth and impacted or poor indoor air quality. Exposure to mold spores can cause headaches and eye, nose, and throat irritation. Mold exposure can worsen lung diseases, such as asthma, and increase the risk for lung infection in immunocompromised individuals3 .
- Wildfire smoke can travel long distances, potentially exposing people both near and far from the fire location to a mixture of respiratory irritants. When wildfires burn vegetation, like trees, they emit smoke that can harm lung and heart health. As wildfires move into residential areas, they burn homes and buildings, releasing toxic chemicals into the environment.
- Extreme heat can lead to exhaustion, heat cramps, heat stroke, and heat-related death. People with chronic lung or heart illnesses or other conditions are at greater risk of heat-related complications or death.
Additionally, all of stress and trauma associated with natural disasters can also affect people’s mental health as they experience anxiety, depression, and PTSD.
Finally, it is important to note that, although everyone is vulnerable to health impacts associated with extreme weather events, some populations are more vulnerable than other. Children, pregnant women, older people, people with disabilities or preexisting conditions may be disproportionately impacted. Individuals affected by poverty, communities that live near contaminated waste sites or industrial areas, and rural areas with limited health systems may be more impacted by extreme weather events.
The health effects of extreme weather are worsened when these events disrupt critical infrastructure, such as electricity, drinking and wastewater services, roads, and health care facilities. Because many of these systems rely on one another, disruption, or failure of one can result in the failure of others. For example, a storm that cripples a community’s electrical grid can also affect its water supply.
