Puerto Rico sues for data on ’cane toll

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico’s Institute of Statistics announced Friday that it has sued the U.S. territory’s health department and demographic registry seeking to obtain data on the number of deaths following Hurricane Maria, as a growing number of critics accuse the government of lacking transparency.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday, the same day Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello told CNN there would be “hell to pay” if officials don’t release mortality data.

Puerto Rico’s Health Department released some information Friday, saying an additional 1,397 overall deaths were reported from September to December in 2017, compared with the same period the previous year.

However, officials did not provide causes of death for any of the 11,459 total people deceased during the period.

Many believe the official toll of 64 deaths is a severe undercount.

A Harvard study published earlier this week estimates that there were up to 4,600 more deaths than usual in the three months after Hurricane Maria, although some independent experts questioned the methods and the number in that study.