Suicide raises Florence death toll to 41 in North Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina’s official death toll from Hurricane Florence is now 41, after a man whose home was damaged by two hurricanes in the past three years took his own life.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner added the 69-year-old Robeson County man to the Florence death count last week. He died Oct. 22, more than a month after Florence made landfall on Sept. 14. He had also suffered losses from Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

The man is the second suicide on the official death count. An 82-year-old Carteret County man whose home was condemned due to Florence-related flooding also killed himself.

The state’s official tally says 10 of the dead drowned in their vehicles, the top cause of fatalities. Six other storm-related deaths were the result of motor vehicle crashes.