Bizarre Falsehoods About Hurricanes Helene and Milton Disrupt Recovery Efforts; The New York Times, October 10, 2024

 Tiffany Hsu and Stuart A. Thompson, The New York Times; Bizarre Falsehoods About Hurricanes Helene and Milton Disrupt Recovery Efforts

"Wildly improbable conspiracy theories about Hurricanes Helene and Milton have spread largely unchecked on social media. The storms were engineered to clear the way for lithium mining. They were sent to help the Democrats in next month’s election. They were formed by weather-controlling lasers.

The claims persist despite attempts by scientists and government officials to debunk them with evidence. They survive all calls to reason.

The falsehoods, which have been circulating on X, TikTok, YouTube and other platforms, can resemble the conspiracy theories that plague modern American politics. Prominent figures are pushing them, citing unrelated, misleading or outdated evidence.

But the risks are often more immediate. Online climate-related conspiracy theories can quickly cause damage offline, disrupting emergency communications and recovery efforts. Officials have said this week that the disinformation about Hurricanes Helene and Milton was making relief workers a target, and the American Red Cross warned that the outlandish claims could prevent survivors from seeking help."

Helene recovery is more political online than on the ground; NPR, October 7, 2024

Jeff Brady, Liz Baker , NPR; Helene recovery is more political online than on the ground

"Elon Musk’s social media platform X has been an especially fertile place for politically charged rumors and conspiracies. Sometimes they have been fueled by the billionaire himself.

On Friday Musk fed into a common complaint online that governments are preventing private citizens from offering help to people in need. Musk wrotethat his “blood is boiling” after engineers from his company SpaceX tried to offer help via helicopter but “@FEMA wouldn’t let them land to deliver critical supplies.”

Actually the Federal Aviation Administration regulates airspace and the FAA said in a statement that following Helene the skies have been crowded and it's trying to maintain safety. A federal official confirmed to NPR that there have been more than 30 cases where two aircraft almost collided, as air traffic in the region increased 300% after the storm. There are no restrictions to aerial recovery operations.

Perhaps no area in North Carolina has been the subject of more blatant false online rumors than Chimney Rock — including the persistent untrue claim that FEMA abandoned the village so that the Biden administration can mine lithium there.

“Anything that you see, that you hear that sounds like that is not true,” says village mayor Peter O’Leary."

Interested Parties Memo: Fighting Hurricane Helene Falsehoods with Facts; The White House, October 5, 2024

 The White House; Interested Parties Memo: Fighting Hurricane Helene Falsehoods with Facts

""Senior Advisor to the President and Communications Director Ben LaBolt, and Director of Digital Strategy Christian Tom

Under President Biden and Vice President Harris’s direction, the Administration has mobilized a robust, intensive, and whole-of-government effort to respond to the impacts of Hurricane Helene. This includes extensive pre-landfall preparations, as well as an immediate surge of additional resources and personnel to impacted communities. More than 6,400 Federal personnel are on the ground, and more than $110 million in Federal assistance has been given to survivors, with more to come. We are sparing no resource as we work to ensure communities across the Southeast have prompt access to Federal resources that will enable them to both purchase essential items and begin their road to recovery and rebuilding.

Unfortunately, as our response and recovery efforts continue, we have seen a large increase in false information circulating online related to the federal response to Hurricane Helene. A number of scam artists, bad-faith actors, and others who want to sow chaos because they think it helps their political interests are promoting disinformation about the recovery effort, including ways to access critical and live-saving resources. This is wrong, dangerous, and it must stop immediately.

Combatting misinformation and disinformation is always important – but it is especially important when responding to disasters like Hurricane Helene. In fact, disinformation after a hurricane or other natural disaster can discourage people from seeking critical assistance when they need it most. It is imperative that we encourage impacted residents to register for FEMA assistance, not discourage it, by allowing falsehoods to spread.

Leaders from across the country, including local, state, and federal elected officials in both parties, are pleading with people to stop sharing “this junk.”

1. CNN: With misinformation swirling in Hurricane Helene’s wake, officials urge residents to ‘stop this conspiracy theory junk’
2. HuffPost: North Carolina Republican Pleads To End Right-Wing Conspiracy Theories About Helene Disaster Recovery
3. The Hill: Tennessee mayor on FEMA attacks post-Helene: ‘Quit spreading those rumors’
4. WVLT: ‘A lot of misinformation’ | Gov. Lee, FEMA address donation rumors

Here are some of the falsehoods being spread online – and the facts we are fighting back with:"