Raleigh, North Carolina — Asheville is in a county in North Carolina that overcounted the number of deaths caused by Hurricane Helene by as many as 30. This was revealed Tuesday in a statement from the county’s sheriff’s office and in state data. This greatly reduced the number of deaths from the historic storm.
Authorities in Buncombe County used to say that 72 people had died, but now they are waiting for the state to confirm that 42 people have died in the county.
The county’s number comes from a news release from October 3 that said “72 lives have been lost due to Hurricane Helene.” This was the same number that Sheriff Quentin Miller used at a previous press conference. But state officials have always said a smaller number than that for the county, based on reviews by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Raleigh. Since at least October 10, the number for Buncombe County in the state’s count has been 42.
The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Tuesday that the actual number of deaths in the county was less than what it said. The statement, which was signed by Public Information Officer Christina Esmay, talked about things like new causes of death and trouble communicating after the storm cut power and cell service to many mountain counties.
“In the early days after Hurricane Helene, all deaths in Buncombe County were thought to be caused by the storm.” But as the days went by, BCSO was able to figure out who had died because of the storm, who was from Buncombe County, and who had died of other reasons, the statement said. “Because of widespread power outages and the lack of regular communication, the number of deaths in Buncombe County that was first given to Sheriff Miller has gone down.”
The sheriff’s office didn’t say how they came up with their number, and spokesman Matt Marshall said that anyone who wants to know more about how deaths were reviewed and counted should contact state officials. When asked if he could talk to the sheriff, Marshall said he would see if the sheriff was free.
Henderson County had earlier said that there were two more deaths in the county than in the state, but on Tuesday it said that it agreed with the state’s number.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Raleigh usually looks at deaths caused by weather and decides on a reason before telling state officials how many deaths there were. This is something that has been done for years and has been done during storms. But because of all the chaos after Helene, some counties reported death tolls separately from the state. The state’s count has slowly gone up since Tuesday, but the rise has slowed as bodies have been inspected.
In an email on Tuesday, Kelly Haight Connor, a spokesperson for the State Department of Health and Human Services, said that all investigations into deaths linked to the storm are complete. However, she wouldn’t rule out adding more cases if they come up. Tuesday, the state said that Helene had killed 96 people across the whole state.
According to figures from the state and counties like Henderson and Buncombe, Helene had caused at least 246 deaths across several states as of Monday. Of those, 128 were in North Carolina. After Buncombe County admitted that its number was too high, the AP used the state’s total of 96, bringing the news organization’s total across all states to 214.
Article Source: North Carolina county surrounding Asheville overcounted Helene deaths by as many as 30, sheriff says
