Thus, while the annual mean number of deaths has fallen dramatically, the median number has risen. The result is striking when considering that there were fewer hurricane landfalls over the past several decades. Most tropical cyclone-related deaths occur with hurricanes. The relatively more frequent catastrophic events earlier in the century would likely make this percentage even higher over the entire century. On the other hand, the bias related to counting deaths from inland flooding during earlier years is not considered.
Table also lists the number of U.S. hurricanes in each sub-period.
A hurricane land falling more than once is counted as a single U.S. hurricane. Note the relative abundance of U.S. hurricanes during the 1930's and 1940's compared to the frequency during the latter third of the century. Although tropical cyclones of lesser intensity cause deaths, hurricanes have accounted for a significant portion of all casualties since 1966. The mortality per hurricane in the United States, which takes into account the median death toll and hurricane frequency, is shown in Figure for each sub-period. As anticipated we see an increase over the period of record.