Winter Storm Death Toll Rises to Seven in South Carolina

An additional winter weather-related death has been reported in the Upstate, where Anderson County Coroner officials confirmed that 67-year-old Ernest Howard Nash of Anderson died from hypothermia after dispatch received a call about an unresponsive man on Lawrence Road just after 1 a.m. on Tuesday; first responders found him hypothermic, treated him on scene, and transported him to AnMed, where he later passed away. A preliminary investigation revealed Nash was staying in a home without adequate heating, and his death was ruled accidental following an autopsy, with the scene under joint investigation by the coroner’s office and Anderson County Sheriff’s Office. Meanwhile, the South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH) announced two more storm-related fatalities from the recent weekend winter storm, bringing the statewide total to seven: an 85-year-old male in Laurens County who died from hypothermia on January 21, and a 91-year-old Laurens County female who succumbed to the same cause on January 30. Earlier confirmations include a 79-year-old Oconee County male from a slip-and-fall and a 59-year-old Charleston County male from hypothermia.