DALLAS — State officials added 14 more people to the total number of victims whose deaths were tied to the February winter storm that swept across Texas and brought power and water issues to much of the state.
The fatality count now stands at 125 people across the state, in a third update of the death toll.
Twelve people died in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Dallas County had the most victims in the area, at seven people.
Harris County has had the most deaths of any county in the state, data shows, with its death toll now at 36 people. Travis County had the second most, with 11 people.
Elsewhere in North Texas, two people died in both Collin and Ellis Counties, and one person died in Kaufman County. This latest release did not include any information on Denton, Tarrant, Rockwall, Parker or many other counties in North Texas, indicating there were no record deaths there related to the storms.
During February's major winter storms, millions of Texans lost power for days and the state's energy grid came within minutes of total collapse. That led to other problems, like boil water notices and food scarcity at grocery stores.
Most of the deaths so far have been related to hypothermia, according to the Department of State Health Services. On March 15, the state's first preliminary data release said there had been 57 deaths related to the storm. The state then released an updated count on March 25, at 111 total victims.
DSHS officials said in an email from the March 25 update that while most of the deaths are associated with hypothermia, there have also been multiple deaths caused by falls, fire, vehicle accidents, carbon monoxide poisoning, medical equipment failure, exacerbation of chronic illness or a lack of home oxygen.
RELATED: Early data shows there were 57 winter storm-related deaths, including 2 in Collin County, state says
The information is subject to change as more death records are reviewed and more information is gathered, DSHS officials said. The deaths occurred between Feb. 11 and March 5.
On Feb. 11, at least six people were killed in a massive pileup crash that involved 133 vehicles, including several 18-wheelers, during icy conditions in an express lane on Interstate 35W in Fort Worth.
DSHS officials said there are three main ways their agency is notified of storm-related deaths:
- 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
- Epidemiologists match public reports of disaster-related deaths to death records
Verified winter storm-related deaths by county of occurrence:
- Aransas: 1
- Armstrong: 1
- Bandera: 1
- Bexar: 6
- Brazoria: 1
- Cass: 1
- Clay: 1
- Coleman: 2
- Collin: 2
- Dallas: 7
- Ector: 1
- Ellis: 2
- Fayette: 1
- Fort Bend: 3
- Freestone: 1
- Frio: 1
- Galveston: 6
- Grayson: 1
- Hale: 1
- Harris: 36
- Henderson: 2
- Hill: 2
- Hopkins: 1
- Hunt: 1
- Kaufman: 1
- Kendall: 1
- Kerr: 1
- Lamar: 1
- Lavaca: 2
- Lee: 1
- Leon: 1
- Limestone: 1
- McLennan: 1
- Montgomery: 2
- Pecos: 1
- Rusk: 1
- San Saba: 1
- Schleicher: 1
- Sutton: 1
- Taylor: 6
- Travis: 11
- Trinity: 1
- Uvalde: 1
- Webb: 1
- Wharton: 1
- Wichita: 2
- Williamson: 3
Total: 125
