Number of deaths counted from Texas blackout catastrophe approaches 200 The recorded death toll from Winter Storm Uri in Texas continues to rise as more information on the full scale of human suffering comes out. A recent Houston Chronicle analysis linked 194 deaths to the February storm according, making it one of the worst natural disasters in the state in the last 100 years. The toll is almost three times the direct fatalities resulting from Hurricane Harvey in 2017 which at the time was the deadliest storm to hit Texas since 1919. The official count is still ongoing with additional deaths already linked to the storm. The state’s death rate, which was already higher than normal due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was 8 percent above the already high level during the week of the blackouts.