Environmental News Network - Prolonged Power Outages, Often Caused by Weather Events, Hit Some Parts of the U.S. Harder Than Others

Details: By University of Washington; 01.May

Joan Casey lived through frequent wildfire-season power outages when she lived in northern California.

Joan Casey lived through frequent wildfire-season power outages when she lived in northern California. While waiting for the power to return, she wondered how the multi-day blackouts affected a community’s health.

“For me it was an inconvenience, but for some people it could be life-threatening,” said Casey, now an assistant professor in the University of Washington’s Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences. “If you had an uncle that had an electric heart pump, basically, his heart wouldn’t work without power. You could use a backup battery for eight hours, but after that, if you don’t have access to electricity, you have to go to the emergency room. This is a really dangerous situation.”

Years later, Casey has answers. A study published April 29 in the journal Nature Communications analyzed three years of power outages across the U.S., finding that Americans already bearing the brunt of climate change and health inequities are clustered in four regions — Louisiana, Arkansas, central Alabama and northern Michigan — and that they are most at risk of impact by a lengthy blackout.

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Prolonged Power Outages, Often Caused by Weather Events, Hit Some Parts of the U.S. Harder Than Others