Hurricane Helene’s devastating flooding and the rushed evacuations to escape the storm are jeopardizing people’s ability to take critical medications.
The cyclone catapulted from an unnamed tropical storm to a Category 4 hurricane over two days, a rapid intensification that brought massive storm surge along the coast and up to 20 inches of rain in some places along the eastern Gulf Coast. That increased the possibility of lost, damaged or misplaced medications, according to some health care advocates, who say the unavailability of prescription drugs during hurricanes is an overlooked health risk.
Veronica Robleto, the director of the Rural Women’s Health Project, is already trying to help people replace the medications they lost during Hurricane Helene. Her group works with farm workers in Florida’s Big Bend region, where the storm made landfall Thursday night.
It was only last month when Hurricane Debby struck the same region as a Category 1. Robleto said her group heard from a number of people in Live Oak, Florida, where their mobile homes were “completely flooded” and their prescriptions damaged.
