Hurricane Beryl death toll in SE Texas rises to at least 18 as Harris Co. confirms 6 heat fatalities
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A glimpse into the deaths caused by Hurricane Beryl shows the medical examiner attributed at least six in Harris County to the heat.
As of Tuesday, 18 people's lives were lost in southeast Texas due to the Category 1 storm's impact, ranging from drowning to heat-related illness amid power outages. That number should climb in the coming days after families across our area continue to tell ABC13 about their loved ones' deaths.
In Matagorda County, officials confirmed a man died from the heat during the power outages following the storm. Charles Yañez's family spoke to ABC13 for the first time on Tuesday.
"I didn't really worry about the heat like that until I (saw) it take my dad, so it's a pretty serious thing," Robert Yañez, Charles' son, said. "My dad said, 'If it's only going to be until 5 o'clock, I'll hang in there, and I will just wait.'"
SEE ALSO: 3 Montgomery Co. deaths among 5 in Houston area attributed to fallen trees during Beryl
However, on that same day, Tuesday, July 9, Charles Yañez died in his Bay City home from the heat.
"I put some wet towels to cool him off. I gave him some ice packs, some little fans to keep him cool a little bit," Robert Yañez remembered. "It was hard to believe that he passed away because people keep saying it was his time, but he was only 61, and he had so much life, and I don't agree. It wasn't his time. He did not have to die like that."
Robert Yañez called his father's death preventable. His dad is part of the growing list of people across multiple counties who have lost their lives because of Hurricane Beryl.
SEE ALSO: HPD employee drowned on his way to work during Beryl storms, Mayor John Whitmire says
"He just believed to be kind to everybody," Robert Yañez said. "Just anything you can do. If you can do something for somebody, just do it."
Elsewhere, Johnnie Courtney was a 77-year-old veteran whose family remembered him as kind. He drowned in North Side Village when his car submerged in the flooded roadway the day of the storm. His family believes this was during a trip to the VA Medical Center.
In the Houston area, the medical examiner's office confirmed that 78-year-old Oscar Rodriguez died from the heat last week while his power was out.
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