I do wonder, though, how many more deaths would be attributed to past storms if measured by the same standards as used in the Harvard study.

A Wapo piece states (my bold):

The Harvard findings indicate that health-care disruption for the elderly and the loss of basic utility services for the chronically ill had significant impacts, and the study criticized Puerto Rico’s methods for counting the dead — and its lack of transparency in sharing information — as detrimental to planning for future natural disasters.

 Doesn't it always?  And:

Researchers in the mainland United States and Puerto Rico, led by scientists at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, calculated the number of deaths by surveying almost 3,300 randomly chosen households across the island and comparing the estimated post-hurricane death rate to the mortality rate for the year before. Their surveys indicated that the mortality rate was 14.3 deaths per 1,000 residents from Sept. 20 through Dec. 31, 2017, a 62 percent increase in the mortality rate compared with 2016, or 4,645 “excess deaths.”

If those types of surveys were done and similarly analyzed after, say, Katrina, what would they have found?

There are clearly deaths in the thousands that were caused by, but not officially attributed to, Hurricane Maria - many if not most caused by breakdowns in federal assistance and general disregard for Puerto Ricans as Americans.  There is blame to be spread and shared; harsh lessons to be learned.  But is it all that new, really?  Don't you imagine there are families of lost souls who need so much - still, today - because of Andrew, Hugo, Katrina ... pick a letter.  Maybe when the numbers mean more (the overlooked ones) in the future the deaths from the past will be acknowledged.