Nine out of ten people in the United States who lost their lives in tropical cyclones through the 1960's drowned in coastal storm surges. Many of these losses occurred in catastrophes that took thousands of lives in the early part of this century. Through a combination of improved technology, better communications and a fortuitous recent decrease in the number of landfalling strong tropical cyclones, the number of storm surge-related deaths has been relatively small during the past three decades. Nevertheless, the ever-increasing coastal population justifies an attendant heightened concern and vigilance.
While the number of coastal fatalities attributed to storm surges has decreased, at least temporarily, progress in reducing the number of deaths in inland areas of the United States has been less successful (and emblematic of the even larger such problem faced in other areas of the Atlantic hurricane basin). In fact, the largest tropical cyclone-related loss in recent years in the United States occurred with a weak tropical depression (1994 Alberto) that claimed about 30 lives well inland over the southeastern states. Most inland losses are also by drowning, but are attributable to freshwater flooding resulting from excessive rainfall. This paper presents a study of the inland loss of life attributed to tropical cyclones over the past 30 years. It documents and discusses the causes, magnitudes, locations, and several other characteristics associated with this important tropical cyclone problem. We hope that this study will help meteorologists, hydrologists, emergency managers and the public to prepare more effectively for future inland tropical cyclone flood threats