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New study sheds light on death toll from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico

The official government count of the number of people killed when Hurricane Maria pummeled Puerto Rico last year stands at 64. But researchers say the true number of deaths may actually be much higher. A new analysis puts the figure at 1,139. While that's many times the official figure, it is not as high as another study that came out earlier this year.

The researchers used official government death records in their study, according to a paper on the findings published Thursday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a peer-reviewed medical journal. The findings took into account people who died from both the hurricane's immediate impact and its secondary effects during the months after it barreled into Puerto Rico in September.

"If we have a better idea of the damage that Hurricane Maria actually did, then maybe we can use that experience to inform and reshape protocols, policies and emergency management protocols," Alexis Raúl Santos, an assistant professor of human development and family studies at Penn State, said in a news release on the findings.

The news release says this study is different from other estimates that used data from surveys or government agencies, "which may not be reliable." A Harvard University study released in May said the hurricane was likely responsible for more than 4,600 deaths, a figure that was based on results of a door-to-door survey of 3,299 randomly selected homes across the island.

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