Severe Weather and Power Outages Create a Perfect Storm for Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Everyday Health MenuNewslettersSearch Public Health News Severe Weather and Power Outages Create a Perfect Storm for Carbon Monoxide PoisoningResearchers warn of dangers brought by climate change and extreme weather. Here’s how to protect yourself. By Becky UphamJanuary 24, 2022Fact-CheckedResearchers looked at cases of carbon monoxide poisoning surrounding cold snaps and snowstorms.Bibirajh Sivamyinthan/iStockNew research has found a dangerous consequence of prolonged power outages in the United States due to severe weather — carbon monoxide poisoning. “Carbon monoxide poisoning is just one example of the effects on health that we can expect with climate change, rising global temperatures, and increased frequency and severity of severe weather events,” says Christopher Worsham, MD, a pulmonologist and critical care physician at Harvard Medical School in Boston and the lead author of the research letter, published on January 13 in the New England Journal of Medicine. Power outages hit an all-time high in 2020, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, with the average American going a total of eight hours that year without power. Louisiana residents spent the most time in the dark; the average person there spent a little over 60 hours without electricity. Power Outage in Texas Caused 300 Cases of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Outbreaks of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning have been reported after severe weather events that cause power outages and lead to an increased use of generators. The authors cite a major power outage caused by a 2021 cold snap in Texas that affected millions of residents. CO poisoning caused at least 11 deaths, and more than 1,400 people sought care at emergency rooms and urgent care clinics during the weeklong outage, according to The Texas Tribune. Texas is one of six states with no statewide requirement for carbon monoxide detectors. An Estimated 50 000 People Visit the Emergency Room Each Year With CO Poisoning Carbon monoxide is a gas that has no odor or color and is found in fumes made by cars, trucks, stoves, gas ranges, and heating systems. The gas can build up in areas that don’t have good ventilation, and people can be poisoned by breathing the fumes, according to MedlinePlus. Close to 50,000 people in the United States visit the emergency department and at least 430 people die each year because of accidental CO poisoning, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Red blood cells pick up CO quicker than they pick up oxygen, and so when you inhale it, your body replaces the oxygen in your blood with the gas. Symptoms of CO poisoning include headache, dizziness, weakness, nausea, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. People who are sleeping or who have been drinking alcohol can die from CO poisoning before ever noticing symptoms. The First Systematic Study to Examine CO Poisoning With Major Power Outages Researchers were able to quantify the risk of CO poisoning associated with the average major power outage by combining data from a large commercial insurance database to measure emergency room visits with data from the Department of Energy on major power outages from 2007 to 2018. Investigators identified 581 major power outages with an average duration of 47.9 hours and 580 CO poisoning-related emergency department visits that occurred within 10 days after the outage. The authors also tracked CO poisoning visits in the 10 days prior to the outage (there were 219) to use as a baseline for comparison. Children Are at Higher Risk of CO Poisoning In outages lasting longer than 24 hours, the risk of CO poisoning was significantly higher during the outage compared with the baseline rate. For outages lasting more than two days, the risk of CO poisoning was 9.3 times higher than baseline, and 13.5 times higher for children. “Our findings suggest that we should routinely expect there to be cases of carbon monoxide poisoning in areas where the power is out — particularly when that outage lasts over 48 hours — and that children may be more susceptible to power-outage-associated CO poisoning,” says Dr. Worsham. The most likely explanation for these findings is the use of portable gas-powered generators or cars to generate power and heat, he adds. Smaller individuals are more susceptible to CO in the air, which may explain why the findings were more pronounced in children, notes Worsham. To make sure the findings were connected to power outages and not efforts to generate heat simply because it was cold, researchers checked CO poisoning surrounding all cold snaps and snowstorms and didn't see increased CO poisoning, which suggests these cases are more likely tied to the power outages. “The risk for carbon monoxide poisoning can be mitigated at the source by preventing power outages in the first place by improvements to our electrical grid infrastructure, particularly as severe weather events are expected to increase in frequency and severity with rising global temperature,” says Worsham. Safety Tips to Avoid Carbon Monoxide Poisoning The CDC offers the following CO poisoning prevention tips:Never leave the motor running in a vehicle parked in a garage or any other enclosed or partially enclosed space.Never run a generator, pressure washer, or any gasoline-powered engine inside a basement, garage, or other enclosed structure, even if the doors or windows are open, unless the equipment is professionally installed and vented. Vents and flues must be free of debris, especially if winds are high, because flying debris can block ventilation lines.Never run a motor vehicle, generator, pressure washer, or any gasoline-powered engine closer than 20 feet to a residence's open window, door, or vent. A comprehensive list of CO poisoning tips can be found on the CDC website. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recommends that every home have a carbon monoxide detector. Detectors should be placed on a wall about five feet above the floor, because the gas is lighter than air and it may be found with warm, rising air, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The detector may also be placed on the ceiling. The agency recommends that each floor have its own separate detector. If you do use a single carbon monoxide detector, place it near the sleeping area and make certain the alarm is loud enough to wake you up. NEWSLETTERS Sign up for our Healthy Living Newsletter SubscribeBy subscribing you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. 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