After Hurricane Helene swept through North Carolina, Buncombe County officials have revised their death toll count, reducing it by as many as 30 deaths. Previously reported at 72, the county is now deferring to a state tally of 42 deaths for the county.
The discrepancy in numbers was attributed to factors such as updated causes of death and communication challenges following the storm, which caused widespread outages in the region. The Buncombe County Sheriff's office acknowledged the error in a statement, clarifying that not all deaths initially classified as storm-related were in fact from Buncombe County.
State officials, relying on reviews by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Raleigh, have consistently reported lower numbers for Buncombe County. The state's tally of 42 deaths for the county has remained unchanged since at least October 10.
Similarly, Henderson County also adjusted its death toll count to align with the state's number, after initially reporting two more local deaths. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Raleigh follows a standard process of reviewing weather-related deaths before reporting numbers through state officials.
As of Tuesday, the state reported a total of 96 deaths from Hurricane Helene statewide. The climb in the state's tally has slowed as bodies have been examined, with all storm-related death examinations now complete. However, the state has not ruled out the possibility of additional cases emerging.
With the correction from Buncombe County, the source has adjusted its multistate tally of Helene-related deaths to 214, based on data from various states and counties. The source had previously tallied at least 246 total deaths across multiple states due to Helene, including 128 in North Carolina.
