How many people has Tropical Storm Helene killed in NC? How many remain missing?

This story has been updated to reflect numbers reported by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services as of Friday, Oct. 25, 2024.

Tropical Storm Helene has caused 98 confirmed deaths in North Carolina, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services says. And 26 remain missing, officials said earlier.

Buncombe County has had the most Helene-related deaths, with 42. Yancey County has had 11 confirmed deaths; Henderson County has had seven; and Haywood County has had five, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services says.

“The vast majority of these are directly related to flooding leading to landslides, blunt force, flooded cars, etc. We are still going through the detailed review of death records on other specific causes and elements,” DHHS Secretary Kody Kinsley said.

Earlier, officials said drowning is the leading cause of death, with 32. Twenty people were killed in landslides and 18 died from blunt force injuries, according to DHHS. The ages of those who died range from a 4-year-old girl killed in a vehicle crash in Catawba County to an 89-year-old Henderson County woman who was found among the pieces of her home after floodwaters swept it away. Some were found more than a week after the storm passed.

Friday, Christina Esmay, a spokeswoman for the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office, said that earlier reports of more than 70 people dying there from Helene-related causes were inflated.

In Helene’s “early aftermath,” Esmay wrote, anyone who died was classified as dying from storm-related causes and anyone who died from the hurricane was described as coming from Buncombe County.

“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,” Esmay wrote.

The state has established a task force that is working with local law enforcement officials to investigate cases of people who are still unaccounted for.

As part of that effort, the N.C. Department of Public Safety is working to consolidate reports about missing people that may have come into a number of state, local or nonprofit agencies.

Working with local agencies, state officials are following up with people who reported a missing person to see if that person has been located.

Gov. Roy Cooper warned earlier that the number of people missing is likely to fluctuate, with people being both added and removed as more cases are uncovered or resolved.

Staff reporter Virginia Bridges contributed this report.

This story was produced with financial support from the Hartfield Foundation and Green South Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. If you would like to help support local journalism, please consider signing up for a digital subscription, which you can do here.

This story was originally published October 15, 2024 at 6:08 PM.

Adam Wagner

The News & Observer

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Adam Wagner covers climate change and other environmental issues in North Carolina. His work is produced with financial support from the Hartfield Foundation and Green South Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. Wagner’s previous work at The News & Observer included coverage of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and North Carolina’s recovery from recent hurricanes. He previously worked at the Wilmington StarNews.