First responders and government agencies mobilizing against the devastation of Hurricane Helene have battled collapsed infrastructure and communications outages to reach survivors of the deadly storm. More than a week since Helene ravaged the southeastern United States, a completely man-made phenomenon is hurting rescue and recovery efforts: lies and misinformation.
As government officials in affected states give bipartisan praise to the Biden administration's response to the storm, Donald Trump and his allies wasted little time in politicizing the response to Helene. The former president has spread baseless claims that the Biden administration illegally “stole” disaster funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in order to “give it to their illegal immigrants that they want to have vote for them this season.”
On Monday, Trump repeated the claim on Truth Social, writing that “the GREAT people of North Carolina are being stood up by Harris and Biden, who are giving almost all of the FEMA money to Illegal Migrants in what is now considered to be the WORST rescue operation in the history of the US”
“NORTH CAROLINA HAS BEEN VIRTUALLY ABANDONED BY KAMALA!!! DROP HER LIKE SHE DROPPED YOU – VOTE FOR PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP. MAGA2024,” he added.
Spurred by Trump and serial misinformation peddlers like Elon Musk, false claims that FEMA has stolen donations, blocked volunteers from aiding in recovery efforts, intentionally abandoned Republican counties, and is planning to steal land from survivors in order to boost lithium mining operations in North Carolina are running rampant online. Experts and local lawmakers of both parties say the flood of misinformation is affecting response efforts.
On Monday, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper (D), addressed the false claims affecting his state — where more than 100 people were killed by Helene — in a post on
“We need to work together to rebuild and recover from a catastrophic disaster like this one — and spreading false information to sow chaos hurts real people,” Cooper wrote. “Politicians, billionaires and grifters who peddle lies during a time of crisis should be held accountable.”
Glenn Jacobs, the Republican mayor of Knox County, Tennessee, issued a similar statement Friday on X. “To my knowledge, FEMA, TEMA, nor anyone else is confiscating supplies. Please stop spreading those rumors as they are counterproductive to response efforts,” he wrote. “If everyone could maybe please put aside the hate for a bit and pitch in to help, that would be great.”
Republican North Carolina State Senator Kevin Corbin begged his followers on Facebook to “help STOP this conspiracy theory junk that is floating all over Facebook and the internet about the floods in WNC.”
“Please don't let these crazy stories consume you or have you continually contact your elected officials to see if they are true,” he wrote. “I just talked to one Senator that has had 15 calls TODAY about why we don't stop …….. 'fill in the blank.' 98% chance it's not true and if it is a problem, somebody is aware and on it and not waiting for a post to go thru 10,000 people to be addressed. I've been working on this 12 hours a day since it started and I'm growing a bit weary of intentional distractions from the main job…. which is to help our citizens in need.”
The problem is so widespread that FEMA was forced to create a page on their website debunking false claims about the federal response to Helene. On Sunday, FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell slammed the conspiracies as “not helpful to people,” during an interview with ABC News: “It's really a shame that we're putting politics ahead of helping people.”
The monetary damage wrecked by Helene is expected to number in the billions, and as another major hurricane threatens the Florida coast, the Department of Homeland Security has warned that FEMA will likely need additional funding to cope with the remainder of this year's hurricane season.
“We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters last week. “We are expecting another hurricane hitting — we do not have the funds, FEMA does not have the funds, to make it through the season.”
A bipartisan group of 12 senators issued a letter to Congressional leadership last week suggesting lawmakers may need to return to Congress for an emergency session to approve increased disaster funding for FEMA. But while Trump's allies on the Hill have been happy to fan the flames of misinformation surrounding the disaster — and demand more from the Biden administration — they seem far less inclined to take legislative action. On Sunday, House Speaker Mike Johnson told Political he will not be calling an emergency session on additional aid. Like Trump and many of his colleagues in Congress, Johnson has been bashing the federal response to the crisis over the last few days.
