FEMA; Hurricane Helene: Rumor Response
"Hurricane Helene: Rumor Response
Help keep yourself, your family and your community safe after Hurricane Helene by being aware of rumors and scams and sharing official information from trusted sources.
Do your part to the stop the spread of rumors by doing three easy things:
Ciara O'Rourke, PolitiFact, Poynter Institute; [AI-Fabricated] Image shows a photo of former President Donald Trump wading through floodwater after Hurricane Helene.
"Trump surveyed Hurricane Helene damage in Georgia, but not from deep floodwaters; this image is fake
Rachel Leingang , The Guardian; Hurricane Helene conspiracy theories collide with election misinformation
“Elon Musk, the owner of X and key Trump ally, claimed Fema was blocking flights trying to aid the area, calling it “belligerent government incompetence”. The transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, responded: “No one is shutting down the airspace and FAA doesn’t block legitimate rescue and recovery flights. If you’re encountering a problem give me a call.”
An AI-generated image of a young girl holding a puppy, looking devastated as she sat in a boat in the rain, seemingly fleeing the flood waters, spread widely. It was rightly flagged as AI-generated, but some didn’t seem to care.
“This picture has been seared into my mind,” Amy Kremer, an RNC national committeewoman from Georgia, posted on X. She later added: “Y’all, I don’t know where this photo came from and honestly, it doesn’t matter,” saying it was “emblematic” of the reality people were facing.
One myth amplified in the last few days suggests Fema is out of money because it has spent money on migrants instead, a claim that Trump and many of his allies have amplified. The story was on the cover of the New York Post.”
JULIANN VENTURA , The Hill; Lawmaker on Helene conspiracy theories: ‘PLEASE help stop this junk’
"North Carolina state Sen. Kevin Corbin (R) denounced what he described as “conspiracy theory junk” circulating about flooding in western North Carolina from Hurricane Helene, referring to allegations about the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) stealing money from donations, among several others.
“PLEASE help stop this junk. It is just a distraction to people trying to do their job. Folks, this is a catastrophic event of which this country has never known,” Corbin wrote Thursday in post on Facebook...
In an effort to curb misinformation surrounding Hurricane Helene, FEMA launched a “rumor response” page, where the agency asks the public to find and share information from trusted sources and to discourage others from sharing details from unverified ones. It also seeks to dispel rumors as the search for storm victims continues across multiple states and authorities contend with blocked roads and power outages."
Charlie Nash, Mediate; ‘They Can Control the Weather,’ Claims Marjorie Taylor Greene After Deadly Hurricane Helene Kills More Than 200
"Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) weighed in on the deadly hurricane which wreaked havoc in her state of Georgia and across the southern United States on Thursday, suggesting that the hurricane had been controlled.
After the Hurricane Helene death toll rose to over 200, Greene wrote in a social media post, “Yes they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.”"
Huo Jingnan, NPR; Politically charged rumors and conspiracy theories about Helene flourish on X
"Emergency management researchers lament that the platform owned by Elon Musk, which was once considered a useful source of information in a disaster, is instead contributing to the chaos in Helene's wake.
The disaster became fodder for political attacks
The storm hit two swing states just a month before a close election, making criticisms about the response a tempting political line of attack.
On X, the top results for “Helene” have millions of views but are not always reliable...
Former President Donald Trump claimed without evidence that Democrats were withholding aid from Republican areas. Trump also falsely claimed that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp had not been able to speak to Biden, even though both confirmed they had spoken to one another.
There’s no evidence the federal government is withholding aid from affected states. The Republican governors of South Carolina and Georgia have praised the federal government’s support.
Other videos on X made wilder claims.
"Don’t worry guys, weather modification isn’t real! It’s just a coincidence that Hurricane Helene is one of the most devastating 'inland damage storms' in history and that hundreds of pro-Trump counties are being massively impacted during the most important election of our lifetimes," influencer Matt Wallace posted alongside video footage of flooding. The post received 11 million views."
Juliette Kayyem , The Atlantic; The Fog of Disaster Is Getting Worse
"Keeping track of events during a natural disaster was hard enough in the past, before people with dubious motives started flooding social media with sensational images generated by artificial intelligence. In a crisis, public officials, first responders, and people living in harm’s way all need reliable information. The aftermath of Hurricane Helene has shown that, even as technology has theoretically improved our capacity to connect with other people, our visibility into what’s happening on the ground may be deteriorating."
Michael Graff, Sara Fischer, Axios; Locals turn to legacy media as hurricane rumors swirl
"Old-fashioned legacy media — especially radio — have become a vital information lifeline in the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
Why it matters: Power outages, lost cell signals and hundreds of road closures have stifled on-the-ground reporting, giving way to falsehoods that can spread quickly online — and creating an urgent need to correct them.
Stephanie Kelly , Reuters; US officials struggle to quash Hurricane Helene conspiracy theories
"In the wake of the devastation of Hurricane Helene in the United States this week, a new storm emerged on social media - false rumors about how disaster funds have been used, and even claims that officials control the weather.
Local and national government officials say they are trying to combat the rumors, including one spread by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
One of the more far-fetched rumors is that Helene was an engineered storm to allow corporations to mine regional lithium deposits. Others accuse the administration of President Joe Biden of using federal disaster funds to help migrants in the country illegally, or suggest officials are deliberately abandoning bodies in the cleanup."
