A slew of falsehoods about Hurricane Helene, including claims that money from storm survivors would be diverted to migrants and even that Democrats somehow directed the hurricane itself, have damaged the response to one of the deadliest hurricanes that have ever hit the US. warned.
Disinformation spread by Donald Trump, his supporters and others about the hurricane has obscured recovery efforts for communities devastated by Helene, which tore through five states and caused at least 230 deaths and tens of billions of dollars in damage. Many places, such as in western North Carolina, still lack water service, electricity, navigable roads or essential services.
Related: Marjorie Taylor Greene condemned Helene’s weather conspiracy theory
“It’s honestly disappointing that we’re dealing with this story. The fact that there are a few leaders who have a hard time telling the difference between fact and fiction creates a barrier to our ability to actually get people the help they need,” Deanne Criswell, Federal Emergency Administrator, told IPS Management Agency (Fema) to MSNBC on Monday.
Trump has accused Joe Biden’s administration of “abandoning” people to the crisis and, baselessly, of running short of disaster relief funds because of the money spent on undocumented migrants. Such claims are “downright ridiculous” and create a “really dangerous narrative that creates this fear” among affected people, Criswell said.
At multiple rallies over the past week, Trump has accused Biden and Kamala Harris of favoring migrants over disaster-hit areas. “They stole the Fema money, just like they stole it from a bank, so they could give it to their illegal immigrants so they could vote for them this season,” Trump has said.
“Kamala spent all her Fema money, billions of dollars, on housing for illegal immigrants.” Trump added that the hardest-hit places are “largely a Republican area, so some people say they did it for that reason.”
JD Vance, Trump’s Republican running mate, echoed this theme on Monday, telling Fox News that Fema’s focus on migrants “will distract from their core mission of helping American citizens in times of need.” Last week, Stephen Miller, a far-right Trump adviser, said that “Kamala Harris has turned Fema into an illegal alien resettlement agency.”
Fema does have a housing program that provides shelter for migrants leaving detention, but this is separate from its disaster response program. “No money is diverted from disaster response needs. None,” the White House said.
In his remarks Monday after speaking to Criswell by phone, Harris urged politicians to stop “playing games” where lives are at stake. According to the White House pool, the vice president said: “There is a lot of misinformation being put out by the former president about what is available, especially for Helene’s survivors. First of all, it is extremely irresponsible. It’s about him, it’s not about you. The reality is that Fema has so many resources available to those who desperately need them.”
Congress recently provided an additional $20 billion for disaster relief, but Biden has warned that more funding will be needed to support the long-term recovery of places increasingly hit by powerful storms fueled by global warming.
Other conspiracy theories and false claims are circulating on the internet and in the areas affected by Helene, such as the claim that Fema will only give $750 to individuals as a loan (it is in fact a grant, and could be followed by further claims for more money ). than $40,000) or that the agency seizes people’s land.
Unusually, Fema has set up a web page to refute these claims, with a spokesperson saying the misinformation is “extremely damaging” to response efforts as it deters people from seeking help. “We’re going to continue to aggressively message so that everyone understands what the facts are,” he said of the impending Hurricane Milton, which will hit Florida.
Some social media posts spreading misinformation about the hurricanes called for the formation of militias to confront Fema workers, while other posts included anti-Semitic hatred directed at figures such as Esther Manheimer, mayor of Asheville, North Carolina, a city hit hard by the storm.
“It’s surprising to me how this is developing, but unfortunately it appears that anti-Semitic hate speech is becoming increasingly common in the United States today,” Manheimer said.
“I have tried to avoid X and other platforms, but there is a lot of misinformation that people tend to believe. We have had people in the community questioning whether false things are true because people are deliberately misleading them.”
Manheimer said Asheville, including her own home, still doesn’t have running water but is “overwhelmed” by Fema’s support to clear roads and get the power back on.
According to poweroutage.us, more than 130,000 customers in western North Carolina were still without electricity on Monday.
“People have lost everything here and the last thing we need is people spreading false information,” she said. “Discussion points are being spread within the Republican party that are simply not correct. They seem to think that spreading disinformation will help them win this election.”
One of the more bizarre claims about the hurricane came from Marjorie Taylor Greene, the extremist Republican congresswoman who previously claimed that Jewish lasers from space caused forest fires. “Yes, they can control the weather,” Greene posted on X last week about the hurricane. “It’s ridiculous when someone lies and says it can’t be done.”
Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University, said: ‘There is no mechanism to control a hurricane and no evidence that anyone tried to change it. This is just a crazy conspiracy theory.”
“Although humans cannot ‘control’ the weather, we do influence the weather. Human activities, especially greenhouse gas emissions, have indeed made Helene more destructive.”
He added: “If she wants people to stop influencing the weather, she should support the phase-out of fossil fuels.”
So far, Biden has stated that the federal government will pay the full cost of activities such as debris removal, search and rescue and food supplies for Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. The president also approved disaster relief for Florida before Milton’s arrival.
This approach has won Biden rare praise from Republican governors of affected states, with some Republican lawmakers calling for a reduction in conspiracy theories.
“Would you all help STOP this crap of conspiracy theories circulating on Facebook and the internet about the floods,” Kevin Corbin, a Republican senator for western North Carolina, posted on Facebook last week. “Please do not be consumed by these crazy stories and do not continually contact your elected officials to see if they are true.”
