 "The aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Chimney Rock Village, North Carolina. AP")
As Florida braces itself for Hurricane Milton, the recovery efforts following Hurricane Helene are hampered by a surge of conspiracy theories and misinformation. These claims are now complicating the work of the rescue teams trying to help communities that were hit hard by the storm.
Hurricane Helene , which made landfall on September 26, has killed over 225 people across the US, including Florida and North Carolina. Homes and businesses have been destroyed, entire communities devastated, with hundreds still missing due to the destruction.
The politics of it all
Despite the widespread damage, extremist groups, disinformation peddlers, opportunists, and politicians have been using the disaster to promote false claims and conspiracy theories about the storm and the government’s relief efforts.
As Hurricane Milton is set to make landfall in the coming days, these conspiracies are spreading rapidly. Former US President Donald Trump has alleged that the federal government is deliberately withholding aid from Republican-leaning disaster victims. Meanwhile, far-right groups on social media claim that authorities plan to bulldoze damaged communities and seize residents’ land.
One particularly far-fetched theory suggests that Washington used weather manipulation to direct Helene toward Republican strongholds to sway the presidential election in favour of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris .
Experts and local officials involved in disaster response argue that these theories reveal more about the deep political divisions in the country and the fear and mistrust shadowing an election year, marked by assassination attempts and rising global tensions, than about the actual devastation caused by Helene.
Officials are working to counter the misinformation spreading online in the wake of Hurricane Helene. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been updating a webpage to debunk common rumours, while the North Carolina Department of Public Safety has reassured the public, stating that authorities are “working around the clock to save lives and provide humanitarian relief.”
In a press release published on Saturday, FEMA said that federal assistance had surpassed $110 million, with over 700 FEMA personnel and more than 1,200 search and rescue workers deployed in North Carolina. The US Army was also preparing to expand its relief efforts, sending an additional 500 troops to assist those already approved by Biden, Col. Jimmy Hathaway, the director of operations for US Army North, said.
Despite these efforts, misinformation has spread rapidly on social media platforms, particularly X. The platform has eased its efforts to curb false information following its acquisition by billionaire Elon Musk, raising concerns among disaster experts about the potential impact of unchecked rumours in affected areas.
Sam Montano, a disaster expert and assistant professor of emergency management at Massachusettes Maritime Academy, told The Washington Post, “There’s always misinformation that flows during disasters, but after Helene, it is really difficult to find good and accurate information.”
“When Musk bought Twitter, there were many of us in the disaster space who warned that there would likely be changes that would make the platform less useful during disasters,” Montano further said. “I think that we’re seeing that manifest now."
Debunking conspiracy theories
As rescue work continues and authorities try to separate fact from fiction, the conspiracy theories are not helping. Elected leaders from both parties have had to set the record straight and urge people not to give in to fear and rumour.
“If everyone could maybe please put aside the hate for a bit and pitch in to help, that would be great,” posted Glenn Jacobs, the retired professional wrestler known as Kane, who is now the Republican mayor of Knox County, Tennessee. Jacobs’ post was intended to rebut rumours that workers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency were seizing relief supplies from private citizens.
Many of the conspiracy theories focus on hard-hit North Carolina, a state key to winning the White House. Rumours circulated that FEMA was raiding storm donations and withholding body bags, forcing local hospitals to stack the bodies of victims. One claim suggested federal authorities would condemn the entire town of Chimney Rock and prohibit resettlement in order to commandeer a valuable lithium mine nearby.
False claims of aid withheld from Republicans
Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla, X and SpaceX, posted that private relief flights to North Carolina were being blocked by the Federal Aviation Administration, a claim dismissed as false by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Despite the tradition of Democrats and Republicans putting aside politics for disaster response, many conspiracy theories suggest Democrats such as President Joe Biden or North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper are intentionally withholding aid from Republicans. Trump has pushed the claim, as has North Carolina’s lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson, the embattled GOP nominee for governor.
“They’re being treated very badly in the Republican areas,” Trump told Fox News, ignoring reports and photo and video evidence of recovery efforts underway throughout the region. “They’re not getting water, they’re not getting anything.”
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones endorsed Trump’s fact-free allegation. Jones, the founder of InfoWars, popularised the idea that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut that killed 20 children in 2012 was faked. “Exclusive: Victims of Hurricane Helene Confirm The Federal Government is Purposely Blocking Rescuers and Stealing Aid In an Attempt to Keep Deep Red Areas From Voting,” Jones posted Thursday on X.
China, Russia amplifying the misleading claims
State-run media and disinformation campaigns run by China and Russia have amplified false and misleading claims about the response to the storm. Both countries have used social media and state news stories to criticize responses to past U.S. natural disasters, part of a larger effort to stoke division and distrust among Americans.
State and local officials from both parties have condemned the conspiracy theories as rumours, saying the focus should be on recovery, not political division and hearsay. Responding to the hoaxes is taking up time that should go toward assisting victims, said North Carolina state Sen. Kevin Corbin, a Republican who urged his constituents not to give into hoaxes.
“Friends can I ask a small favour?" Corbin posted Thursday on Facebook. “Will you all help STOP this conspiracy theory junk that is floating all over Facebook and the internet… Please don’t let these crazy stories consume you.”
After Robinson, the GOP candidate for North Carolina governor, posted that state officials had not prepared for the storm, a spokesman for the governor accused Robinson of mounting “an online disinformation campaign.” North Carolina officials say the response to Helene is the largest in state history, including thousands of members of the National Guard and other recovery workers, millions of meals, dozens of aircraft and more than 1,000 chainsaws.
Trump has tried to tie the hurricane’s aftermath to immigration, a leading issue of his campaign. He falsely claimed that FEMA had run out of money because all of it had gone to programs for undocumented immigrants.
The agency’s funding for disaster aid is stretched, but that is because of the many parts of the country dealing with the effects of hurricanes, wildfires and other calamities. Disaster aid is funded separately from other Department of Homeland Security programs that support immigration-related spending.
Weather control technology and fake snow claims
Bizarre stories proposing that the government used weather control technology to aim the hurricane at Republican voters quickly racked up millions of views on X and other platforms.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., endorsed the idea, posting Wednesday on X: “Yes they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.”
Far-out tales of space lasers, fake snow and weather control technology – sometimes tinged with antisemitism — have spread after recent natural disasters, including a snowstorm in Texas and last year’s wildfire in Maui.
Experts who study conspiracy theories say big events like disasters — or the Sept. 11 attacks or the COVID-19 pandemic — create perfect conditions for conspiracy theories to spread because large numbers of anxious people are eager to find explanations for shocking events.
Responding to the volume of false claims about Helene, the Red Cross urged people to consult trustworthy sources of information and to think twice before reposting conspiracy theories.
“Sharing rumours online without first vetting the source and verifying facts ultimately hurts people — people who have just lost their homes, neighbourhoods, and, in some cases, loved ones," the organization wrote in a public plea.
With inputs from AP