Texas Winter Storm Death Toll Increases; Goes Up to 210

As the examination continued in cases related to the freezing winter storm that battered Texas and caused widespread power outages this year, the death toll has risen by 59, which brought the total to 210, officials stated.

Based on the Department of State Health Services' latest released data on Tuesday, the numbers could possibly rise as epidemiologists continued their examination on the causes of deaths of individuals who died in the state from February 11 to March 5. The loss of lives of young and old individuals in urban and rural communities has devastated numerous families across the state of Texas.

According to The New York Times, the Department of State Health Services reported that the majority of confirmed deaths were associated with hypothermia. The department mentioned in their report that other deaths were caused by vehicle accidents, carbon monoxide poisoning, falls, fire, and exacerbation of chronic illnesses which could all be tied up to the winter storm.

Moreover, the data showed that the winter storm-related deaths took place across 60 counties. Based on the report, the hardest hit counties were Harris County, with 43 confirmed storm deaths; Travis County, with 28; and Dallas, with 20 deaths.

Death Toll Still Rising

The state's most populous county, Harris County, where Houston is situated, has more than four million people. Dallas County had more than 2.6 million, while Travis County, which includes Austin, the state capital, is the fifth most populous county in the state with around 1.2 million people.

Meanwhile, the winter storm which swept across the state of Texas in the middle of February, plunged the state into freezing cold and pushed the power grid to the brink of collapse. Millions of Texans were forced to boil water, use their generators, huddle in idling cars for heat and scour for wood to feed fires during some of the most frigid weather recorded in the history of Texas.

Furthermore, authorities initially estimated that the death toll would only be at 57 in the middle of March. However, the toll continued to climb as the months unfolded, it even reached 111 before the month ended, department figures show. It was revised twice in the month of April until it reached 151.

The department said that epidemiologists continued to thoroughly examine death certificates which linked causes of death to the storm. The department spokesman, Douglas Loveday, stated Wednesday that there would be another update and most likely would come out next month, days before the health department would issue a final report.

Celesté Arredondo-Peterson, a director of the Texas Organizing Project, which is an advocacy group, said during an interview that people needed heat, people needed power and they didn't have it for days. Arredondo-Peterson added that she was shocked that despite many people living in the richest country in the world, some of them still froze to death.

On the other hand, the scale of loss which was brought by the winter storm was above other disasters that was experienced by the state, even worse than Hurricane Harvey, which claimed at least 68 lives in 2017.

This article is owned by Latin Post

Written by Jess Smith

WATCH: Death toll from Texas winter storm continues to increase, now stands at 210 - 12NewsNow