Helene death toll drops by 30 in North Carolina's Buncombe County, officials say
The discrepancy between the previous and most recent death counts involves a combination of factors, according to a statement from the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office.
FILE: NC man in town for son's wedding jumps into Helene floodwaters to save woman
Eddie Hunnell was in Holly Springs, NC for his son's wedding at the peak of Helene's wrath when they got word a woman was trapped in a flooded home down the street, and the situation was becoming more dire by the second.
Officials in Buncombe County, North Carolina, where Asheville is located, announced that the number of fatalities caused by Hurricane Helene in the county was overcounted.
The death toll in Buncombe County was previously reported to be 72, Sheriff Quentin Miller said during an Oct. 3 briefing.
As of Tuesday, FOX Weather confirmed that the number of deaths in the county has been lowered by 30 to 42, based on information from the Office of the North Carolina Chief Medical Examiner. However, this number might rise.
"That’s not out of the question," said Lillian Govus, the director of communications and public engagement for Buncombe County government, who cited the new death count from the chief medical examiner.
The discrepancy between the previous and most recent death counts involves a combination of factors, according to a statement from the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office. Those factors include lack of communication after Helene, due to power and cellphone outages in affected counties, along with updates to causes of death.
With the new tally from Buncombe County, North Carolina now stands at 96 storm-related deaths from Helene.
Heavy rains from hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. (Melissa Sue Gerrits)
Despite the 30-count difference from earlier reports, Buncombe County still has the most storm-related deaths from Helene in North Carolina by far. The county with the next most deaths, Yancey County, has 11:
- Ashe County: 1
- Avery County: 4
- Buncombe County: 42
- Burke County: 1
- Catawba County: 1
- Cleveland County: 2
- Gaston County: 1
- Haywood County: 5
- Henderson County: 7
- Macon County: 2
- Madison County: 4
- McDowell County: 1
- Mecklenburg County: 3
- Mitchell County: 2
- Polk County: 1
- Rowan County: 1
- Rutherford County: 3
- Wake County: 1
- Watauga County: 2
- Yadkin County: 1
- Yancey County: 11
Helene made landfall on Sept. 24 in Florida and then swept through the Southeast, leaving a trail of destruction, particularly in western North Carolina.