Death toll from February storm, outages up to 111

Majority of deaths are associated with hypothermia.

Texas officials on Thursday raised the death toll from February’s winter storm and blackouts to at least 111 people — nearly doubling the state’s initial tally following one of the worst power outages in U.S. history.

The majority of the deaths are associated with hypothermia, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. And the number of new victims is still a potential undercount, as officials continue investigating deaths that happened around the time the storm knocked out power to more than 4 million.

Many homes went without power or drinkable water for days after subfreezing temperatures, failing power plants and record demand for heat pushed Texas’ electric grid to the breaking point.

Texas officials this month put the initial tally of deaths at 57 but warned it would increase. The toll now officially exceeds that of Hurricane Harvey in 2017, which was blamed for 68 deaths in Texas.

The list of victims from the February snowstorm cut a wide swath across the state of 30 million people: Some fatalities were nearly as far north as Oklahoma, while others were close to the U.s.-mexico border. State officials said the causes of “multiple deaths” included motor vehicle accidents, carbon monoxide poisoning, medical equipment failures, exacerbation of chronic illness, lack of home oxygen, falls and fire.

The most confirmed deaths occurred around Houston, where Harris County officials have reported at least 31 victims.

Among them was Gilbert Rivera, 60, who told relatives after the power went out in his garage apartment that he was cold but staying bundled up. Rivera, who worked for decades as a custodian, had a learning disability but reveled in his independence and chose to live on his own.

Lawrence Ibarra, his 44-yearold nephew, said that after a day of being unable to reach Rivera, his father went out on Houston’s treacherously icy and snowy roads to check on him. When he arrived at Rivera’s garage apartment, he found his brother bundled up and dead on the floor. The temperature in Rivera’s house was 37 degrees.

Ibarra said his father told him: “I think he froze to death.”

The autopsy determined the cause of death was hypothermia, which occurs when one’s body loses heat faster than it can produce it.

ELI HARTMAN/ODESSA AMERICAN VIA AP An Oncor Electric Delivery lineman crew works on repairing a utility pole that was damaged by the winter storm in February that passed through Odessa, Texas.