AUSTIN (KXAN) — A total of 125 people died across Texas during a series of back-to-back winter storms in February, according to updated numbers from the Texas Department of State Health Services. It says a majority of the people who died experienced hypothermia.
The death count in Travis County rose by two to 11 since numbers were last reported last week. Three people were confirmed to have died because of the winter storm in Williamson County, an increase of one since last time.
DSHS is tracking the deaths that happened between Feb. 11 and March 5 and considers the data to be preliminary. It’s already announced multiple updates to the count over the last month. It gets its information from medical certifiers who either submit a form specifying that a death was disaster-related or flag a death record as disaster related. DSHS disaster epidemiologists are also working to match reports of disaster-related deaths with death certificates.
In addition to hypothermia, DSHS reported deaths have also been caused by traffic crashes, carbon monoxide poisoning, failure of medical equipment, chronic illnesses worsened by the storm, lack of oxygen at home, falls and fire.
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