Texas state officials report 93 deaths related to Hurricane Harvey

by Leandra Bernstein

Fri, October 13th 2017, 10:22 PM UTC

FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017, file photo, water from Addicks Reservoir flows into neighborhoods as floodwaters from Harvey rise in Houston. Allstate expects $593 million in insurance losses for August due to Hurricane Harvey. That marks a spike from $181 million in July. The estimates do not include Hurricane Irma, which made landfall in September. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

FILE - In Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017, file photo, volunteers move boxes of shoes donated by Mythiquer Pickett for students affected by Hurricane Harvey on at the Delmar Field House in Houston. More than 50 local and national charities have raised more than $350 million in the nearly three weeks since Hurricane Harvey struck the Texas Gulf Coast. The disparate groups are now trying to decide on priorities while some storm victims wait for help. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 7, 2017 file photo, flood damaged debris from homes lines the street in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in Houston. One month after Harvey dumped record rainfall in the Houston area, many neighborhoods and suburbs of the nation's fourth largest city continue cleaning up after the storm. While the larger shelters have closed and much of the city has gone back to normal, huge piles of debris still line streets in numerous neighborhoods as many residents try to salvage their homes. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

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FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017, file photo, water from Addicks Reservoir flows into neighborhoods as floodwaters from Harvey rise in Houston. Allstate expects $593 million in insurance losses for August due to Hurricane Harvey. That marks a spike from $181 million in July. The estimates do not include Hurricane Irma, which made landfall in September. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) — The number of deaths directly or indirectly related to Hurricane Harvey has reached 93, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), but those numbers are expected to change.

On Friday, the state agency reported that 62 people died as a direct result of the hurricane and flooding.

Another 26 died from indirect causes, including medical complications, fires, car accidents and other causes.

Five deaths are still being investigated and have yet to be resolved into either category.

According to a DSHS spokesperson, the reporting is still preliminary and final numbers may not be available until next year.

Finalizing the numbers will be a difficult task for the team which has been coordinating with officials across local jurisdictions to investigate and confirm fatalities.

Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas on August 25 as a Category 4 storm. Harvey brought a record-breaking 50 inches of rain to some parts of southeast Texas causing life-threatening flooding.

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The damage caused by Harvey is expected to cost $180 billion, according to Texas Gov. Greg Abbot. Despite the tremendous human toll, Harvey was not as deadly as Hurricane Katrina, which claimed 1,200 lives when it hit Louisiana and the Gulf Coast in 2005.

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