Hurricane Beryl-related death toll in Harris County rises to at least 20

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Tuesday, August 27, 2024
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HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Two more deaths tied to Hurricane Beryl are being reported in Harris County, bringing the county death total to 20 over a month after the storm hit the Houston area.

That brings the total Beryl-related deaths in Texas to at least 42, according to a count from ABC13. We're reaching out to other southeast Texas counties to see if they are reporting any additional deaths.

The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences said 51-year-old Guillermo Felipe Richards died from the toxicity of carbon monoxide while using a generator due to power loss.

Rolando Arizmendez, 63, died on Aug. 6 from complications of blunt trauma to the head. Officials said he fell from a ladder while clearing tree debris from Hurricane Beryl.

Beryl made landfall on July 8, knocking out power to nearly three million residents in southeast Texas at the height of the outages.

Among the deaths, officials said many people died in homes that were left without air conditioning during the sweltering heat. A civilian Houston Police Department employee drowned in his car while on his way to work. Several others died when trees fell on their homes or in the days that followed while trying to cut down tree branches.

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