AUSTIN (KXAN) — More than 100 Texans lost their lives in the February winter storms in Texas, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
DSHS revised its February winter storm death toll Thursday, saying 111 Texans died in the storms. Previously, the total stood at 57.
In Central Texas, one death in Fayette, Lee and San Saba Counties each were caused by the storm, two in Williamson County and nine in Travis County. The county with the most deaths is Harris at 31, according to DSHS data.
DSHS says many of these deaths were caused by hypothermia. Other deaths were caused by traffic accidents, carbon monoxide poisoning, medical equipment failure, exacerbation of chronic illness, lack of home oxygen, falls and fires.
These deaths happened between Feb. 11 and March 5.
DSHS officials are notified of these winter storm deaths in three ways:
- Medical certifiers submit a DSHS form specifying that a particular death was related to a disaster.
- Medical certifiers flag a death record as disaster related.
- DSHS epidemiologists match public reports of disaster-related deaths to death certificates.
