It wasn't a tsunami, and apart from the very sick who died from lack of electricity and meds the numbers aren't likely to be huge.
Most of the deaths in a hurricane are from loss of services.
A few drown, if there's flooding, but most have the good sense to get to higher ground that's relatively safe. Attics are a threat what with one entrance usually at the lowest point, and some people unthinkingly take refuge there to avoid both flood and the weather--it was a problem in Katrina. In Houston the media kept blasting the message to not go in the attic. Haven't seen any real information on storm surge
Most of the injuries are due to wind hurling debris around. When a structure fails and collapses, it's not usually the case there's no warning.
Irma left not so many dead--early numbers were 3, later reports were a bit higher. Similar storm surge, similar winds. That leaves the extended loss of power.
Now, there'll be other deaths. The all-knowing Internet says that the estimated death rate in PR for 2016 was 8.8/1000. If there are 3.4 million people, we'd expect 29,920 to die this year. For any random 10-day stretch we'd expect about 820 to die. The only way to sort out the death toll is statistical, not using anecdotes. It's cold but that's how it has to be done. I pointed this out when discussing Harvey numbers. Some people died because they drove into floodwaters in Houston; at the same time, having the freeways shut down kept people from dying in car crashes. You can identify the drowned, those who died as a direct result of Harvey, or Irma, or Maria; but it's damned hard to point to the individuals whose lives Harvey saved. The "cold, statistical" approach will also point out the difference, say, between the usual mortality rate and that caused, say, by lack of access to dialysis or fresh insulin or deaths due to cholera. It's not good news, it doesn't grip the viewer, there's nobody crying on tv.
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