Floods can leave communities facing higher overdose deaths for years

A Penn State study finds that severe flooding in Appalachia is linked to higher overdose death rates that can persist for a decade or more afterward. Researchers compared over a hundred flooded counties to unflooded ones and found overdose deaths rose roughly twenty-eight percent in the years following major floods, with the sharpest effects in poorer communities. Grist reports the causes include shuttered clinics, interrupted addiction treatments like methadone, and the lasting housing and economic instability that follows disaster. In North Carolina's Madison County, harm reduction workers say they still see overdose spikes they trace directly back to Hurricane Helene, nearly two years after the storm hit.

Listen to this story

Hear this and more stories in a personalized audio briefing.

Open The Chonkerton