NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Louisiana raised its Hurricane Katrina death toll by 281 Friday to 1,577 after including more out-of-state evacuees whose deaths were deemed related to the storm or its grueling aftermath.

The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals decided that if residents’ deaths were hastened by the stress and trauma associated with relocating – or even an accidental injury during travel – those deaths should be counted in the toll.

“Katrina was a tragedy like no other, and the human toll of the tragedy extends further than our traditional definition of a storm-related death,” said Dr. Louis Cataldie, medical incident commander for Louisiana.

Louisiana officials asked other states to classify evacuees’ deaths as storm-related if they occurred between Aug. 27 – two days before the storm hit – and Oct. 1 and met several general requirements.

During that period, 480 evacuees died in 30 states – mostly Texas, Mississippi and Alabama – of causes found to be related to Katrina. Some of those deaths were reported previously; the state’s toll is up 281 from the last report, in February.
guardian.co.uk

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