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Helen North Carolina death toll officially below 100

Posted on by L. Dreeye
Helen North Carolina death toll officially below 100

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Claim: Helen killed more than 1,000 people; 900 unidentified bodies are in an Asheville hospital

An Oct. 14 Facebook post (direct link, archived link) shows a video that includes an image of a flooded, storm-damaged street.

“The death toll exceeds 1,000 at Asheville (sic) hospital alone, with more than 900 unidentified,” reads on-screen text included in the video, which was first posted to TikTok.

Within 10 days, the video was shared more than 2,000 times. Similar statements, including some that specifically mentioned Mission Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, circulated on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).

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Our rating: False

North Carolina officials say there have been fewer than 100 confirmed deaths from Hurricane Helen as of Oct. 28, and no hospitals are filled with hundreds of unidentified bodies.

The statement overestimates the number of deaths by ten times

On September 26, Helen made landfall in Florida and headed southeast, causing death and destruction in several states. In North Carolina, heavy rainfall from the hurricane combined with the mountainous terrain of the western part of the state to result in catastrophic flooding.

North Carolina officials said the state was still dealing with the storm’s aftermath and searching for missing people, but the Facebook post vastly exaggerated the death toll. The state Department of Health and Human Services keeps a tally of lives lost, which showed 98 confirmed cases as of Oct. 28.

Kelly Haight Connor, a department spokeswoman, told USA TODAY that all examinations of those killed in the hurricane and those who recovered have been completed. She said local and state authorities worked together to respond to hurricane-related deaths.

“Together, they are ensuring the correct procedures and plans are in place to properly identify victims and determine the cause of death to ensure that those killed by the storm are quickly reunited with remaining families,” she wrote in an Oct. 23 email. . “The system remains focused on their efforts to care for those who have died and support the families left behind.”

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Officials in Buncombe County, where Asheville is located, have acknowledged that the death toll was inflated, having previously said there were dozens more deaths than were confirmed.

But Nancy Lindell, a spokeswoman for Mission Hospital’s parent company, said the hospital does not have hundreds of unidentified victims and does not serve as a “morgue” as some versions of the statement suggest.

“Mission Hospital does not serve as a local morgue,” she wrote in an Oct. 22 email. “The federal government is responsible for efforts to prevent loss of life in the community following a disaster, and Mission Health, through an agreement with Buncombe County, assists these efforts by providing off-site support.”

One report circulating online says the hospital serving as the mortuary is Biltmore Hospital, but there is no hospital operating under that name in the Asheville area. The former Biltmore Hospital building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is the predecessor of Mission Hospital, located on Biltmore Avenue.

USA TODAY reached out to Facebook users who shared a complaint about the comment, but did not immediately receive responses and were unable to contact User X.

Lead Stories also refuted this claim.

Our Fact Checking Sources:

  • Nancy Lindell, October 22, email exchange with USA TODAY
  • Kelly Haight Connor Oct. 23 email exchange with USA TODAY
  • North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, October 22 update: Death toll associated with Hurricane Helen Storm.
  • Asheville Citizen Times, October 22, All Deaths Found After Helen Check: Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office Drops 72 Charges.
  • Asheville Citizen Times, Oct. 6, Charlotte’s mobile disaster morgue is ready to go when the state runs out of morgue capacity.

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