Pinellas County reports 12th hurricane death; victim ID’d as 93-year-old woman

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TREASURE ISLAND, Fla. (WFLA) — Pinellas County deputies reported another death from Hurricane Helene Wednesday, bringing the current local death toll to 12.

According to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, Margaret McGarigle, 93, of Treasure Island was found dead, face-down in her home.

Investigators determined that water had gotten into her home, which led to her drowning just weeks before her 94th birthday.

Eleven other people have died in Pinellas County as a result of Hurricane Helene. These are:

• Donna Fagersten, 66, of Indian Rocks Beach
• Patricia Mikos, 80, of Dunedin
• Aiden Bowles, 71, of Indian Rocks Beach
• Marjorie Havard, 70, of St. Pete Beach
• Francis Wright, 71, of Madeira Beach
• Jerome Waite, 89, of Saint Petersburg
• James Thompson, 55, of Redington Shore
• Rachel Burch, 37, of Treasure Island
• Dominic Dewitt, 60, of Indian Rocks Beach
• Joseph Galinski, 67, St. Pete Beach
• Steven Boelsche, 95, Pinellas Park

Officials said all of the victims appeared to have died from drowning. In the case of Steven Beolsche, he may have also been electrocuted, according to a report.

Two other people were reported dead in Tampa, one from a road sign falling on a car on I-4 and another being a woman who died inside her home . This brings the Tampa Bay death count to 14 fatalities.

NBC News reported that the nationwide death toll has risen to 175 fatalities from Hurricane Helene, with hundreds more still missing.

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