She is the county’s 36th official Harvey-related death. Nancy Reed died Sept. 15 of necrotizing fasciitis, according to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science, which reported that the dangerous skin condition resulted in complications related to "blunt trauma of an upper extremity." A Missouri City man says he contracted flesh-eating bacteria right in his own neighborhood as he was trying to help his neighbors during Hurricane Harvey.With flood waters still rising and a mandatory evacuation in effect, J.R. Atkins hopped into a kayak to check on elderly neighbors who were staying behind during the emergency. According to her obituary, Reed was a community volunteer and chief executive of the LivingTributes.com website of online memorials to the deceased.
– A Texas woman fell into Hurricane Harvey floodwaters at her son's home and ended up dead from flesh-eating bacteria. Nancy Reed, 77, is the second known person to contract flood-related necrotizing fasciitis after Harvey, the Houston Chronicle reports. She died Sept. 15, but the Harris County medical examiner's office just ruled on her cause of death. The quick-spreading infection, which can cause organ failure and death in a short amount of time, also hit rescuer JR Atkins while he was helping his neighbors; he contracted it through an insect bite but survived. "This is one of the things we'd been worrying about once the flooding began, that something like this might occur," says the director of the city's emergency medical services. "It's tragic." When Reed fell, she broke and cut her arm, and the injury got infected, a family friend says. The medical examiner's office concluded the infection caused complications related to "blunt trauma of an upper extremity," the Dallas News reports. A doctor warns KTRK that even after floodwaters recede, the dangerous bacteria can remain on anything floodwaters touched.