Raleigh, North Carolina (AP) — The North Carolina county that is home to Asheville has overcounted deaths caused by Helene by as many as 30, according to a Tuesday statement from the sheriff’s office and data from the state, highlighting the death toll from the historic storm went back.

Buncombe County officials, who had previously reported 72 deaths, now estimate there are 42 deaths for the county in the state.

The county’s figure follows an Oct. 3 press release in which county officials reported that “72 people lost their lives due to Hurricane Helene,” repeating a number that Sheriff Quentin Miller had cited at an earlier media briefing. But state officials, relying on reviews from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Raleigh, have consistently reported a lower number than the county. The number for Buncombe County included in the state census has been 42 since at least Oct. 10.

On Tuesday, the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office confirmed in a statement that the number of deaths in the county was lower than the number it reported. The statement, attributed to public information officer Christina Esmay, cited factors ranging from updated causes of deaths to communications problems after the storm knocked out cell phone and power networks in several mountain counties.

“At the start of Hurricane Helene, all deaths were classified as storm-related and from Buncombe County. However, as the days went by, BCSO was able to determine who had died from the hurricane, who was actually from Buncombe County, and who had died from other causes,” the statement said. “Combined with the lack of consistent communication due to widespread outages, the death toll in Buncombe County initially reported to Sheriff Miller has decreased.”

The sheriff’s office did not provide further details about how they arrived at their tally, and spokesman Matt Marshall said any further questions about the investigation and death count should be directed to state officials. In response to a request for an interview with the sheriff, Marshall said he would check his availability.

Another county, Henderson, had previously reported two more local deaths than the state but said Tuesday that it matched the state’s number.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Raleigh typically reviews weather-related deaths and decides the cause before reporting numbers through state officials, a process it has used for years in past storms. But in the chaos after Helene, several districts reported death tolls regardless of the state. The state’s numbers rose gradually through Tuesday, but the increase slowed as bodies were examined.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman Kelly Haight Connor said in an email Tuesday that all investigations into storm-related deaths have been completed, but she would not rule out further investigations if more cases emerge. The state reported 96 deaths from Helene statewide on Tuesday.

The AP had counted at least 246 total deaths in several states due to Helene as of Monday, including 128 in North Carolina, based on state and county data, including Henderson and Buncombe. After Buncombe County announced that the number was inflated, the AP adopted the state’s total of 96, so the news organization’s multistate total now stands at 214.