Western North Carolina mourns as storm death toll stabilizes at 95

By Jennifer Emert

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    ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — Three weeks after Helene unleashed a sea of horrors on Western North Carolina, the state appears to be nearing the end of its count of the lives taken in the storm.

Starting Saturday, Oct.19, the state will reduce its Hurricane Helene Storm Related Fatalities Report to once a day.

Since Monday, Oct. 14, the death count related to the storm has remained at 95. North Carolina’s Division of Public Health reports the majority of the 95 deaths have been attributed to drownings (32) and landslides (20).

Eighteen individuals died from blunt force injuries, six were attributed to wind or tree trauma, four were attributed to motor vehicle drownings, three to motor vehicle crashes, six deaths still have unknown circumstances and five are listed as other. There was also one environmental exposure-related death.

Below is the breakdown of storm-related deaths county by county as of Friday, Oct. 18, 2024:

Ashe, 1 Avery, 4 Buncombe, 42 Burke, 1 Catawba, 1 Cleveland, 2 Gaston, 1 Haywood, 5 Henderson, 7 Macon, 2 4 Madison, 4 McDowell, 1 Mecklenburg, 2 Mitchell, 2 Polk, 1 Rowan, 1 Rutherford, 3 Wake, 1 Watauga, 2 Yadkin, 1 Yancey, 11

Higher numbers reported in Buncombe County in the week that followed the storm raised questions about whether the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner was dealing with a backlog.

They recently told News 13, as of Wednesday, Oct. 16, “As of today, there are only three decedents who are undergoing continued examination to help identify. There are no decedents in Asheville awaiting examination or identification.’

The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office has also provided some clarity as to why their storm-related death numbers were higher than the state’s count.

“In the early aftermath of Hurricane Helene, all deaths were being classified as storm-related and from Buncombe County,” said Christina Esmay, Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office PIO, in a statement regarding the miscount.

“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. 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.”

Before a death is included in the fatalities related to Helene the death is verified by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

They told News 13, “Local Emergency Management, EMS, the NC Medical Examiner System and OCME staff are working cooperatively with the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT) and WNC hospital systems on fatality response.

Together, they are ensuring the right procedures and plans are in place for casualties to be properly identified and cause of death determined to ensure that those lost to the storm are quickly reunited with families left behind. The system stays focused on their efforts to care for the decedents and to support the families left behind.

According to the state, each decedent is being tracked and cared for at one of two locations, either in Asheville or at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) in Raleigh. The more complex cases are being sent to Raleigh for additional examination and confirmation of identification.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services reports fatalities that are verified by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner daily via their website. The medical examiners in our state work to determine if an individual’s death is attributable to Hurricane Helene.

News 13 continues to ask questions of the state concerning missing or unaccounted-for individuals. As of this morning, Oct. 18,the state was reporting that there are 39 people unaccounted for. That number started out at 92 earlier in the week and by mid-week, it was 81.It‘s not a definitive county because the task force calculating the numbers is dependent on information collected from a variety of sources, including direct reports from the public, local governments, law enforcement, and non-profit partners. The number could continue to fluctuate up or down as new reports and information is received.

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