ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Helene is now responsible for more than 100 deaths in North Carolina, the NC Department of Health and Human Services confirmed on Wednesday.
Wednesday marked a sad day with the death toll reaching beyond 100 for the first time since the data was corrected earlier this month.
More than a month after the storm, officials are still working to determine the exact number of people who died from the storm. With some people still unaccounted for after the storm, officials have been working to determine if those people had perished in the storm or had been found safe and not updated in available data.
Nearly half of the storm-related fatalities occurred in Buncombe County, the western North Carolina county that is also home to the city of Asheville. The city saw nearly 14 inches of rain in a three-day period. The excessive rain produced flash flooding, and mudslides across the region.
Buncombe County officials are now deferring 43 deaths for the county. They previously had reported as many as 72 deaths before acknowledging some of the data was inaccurate.
“In the early aftermath of Hurricane Helene all deaths were being classified as storm-related and from Buncombe County. However, as the days progressed BCSO was able to identify who had passed away due to the hurricane, who was in fact from Buncombe County, and who passed away from other causes," an Oct. 22 statement from the county explained. "Compounded with the lack of consistent communication, due to widespread outages, the Buncombe County fatality number that was initially provided to Sheriff Miller has decreased.”
The North Carolina county with the second-most deaths is Yancey County, according to the state. The county is reporting 10 deaths. Yancey County saw one of the highest rainfall totals at a staggering 31 inches in the town of Busick.
Across the Southeast, Helene accounts for more than 215 deaths, according to data tallied by the Associated Press.
