After hurricanes, FEMA confronts a different kind of flood: Misinformation

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A flood of online misinformation, conspiracies, and falsehoods has been undermining the efforts to assist victims of Hurricane Helene and now Hurricane Milton, which made landfall Wednesday night in Florida.

Much of it is directed at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which coordinates disaster relief with local and state agencies. FEMA has had to rebut falsehoods in a dedicated page on its website, and government officials have scrambled to get messages out to concerned residents. Among the baseless claims: allegations that FEMA is prioritizing nonwhite citizens in providing assistance, that the federal government is seizing storm-hit properties, even that the government deliberately caused the storm.

Why We Wrote This

Natural disasters have always created an opening for rumors and lies. But federal officials have been stunned by the volume of online misinformation around Hurricanes Helene and Milton. And they say the effort to combat it comes at a price.

It isn’t unusual for false information to circulate after a natural disaster. And partisan bickering about federal responses to storms is a standard part of the political playbook. But the power and reach of the rumors appears to have grown, with some being amplified by former President Donald Trump and his allies in the final stretch of a drum-tight presidential race.

In storm-affected Florida and North Carolina, some Republican officials are publicly pushing back on falsehoods, pointing to their adverse real-world consequences.

Federal agencies responding to natural disasters are used to being called incompetent when help arrives too slowly for frustrated communities. But the deadly hurricanes that have pummeled Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia over the past two weeks are stirring accusations not just of tardiness but also of outright treason.

A flood of online misinformation, conspiracies, and falsehoods – worse than any they’ve seen before, officials say – has been undermining efforts to assist victims of Hurricane Helene and now Hurricane Milton, which made landfall Wednesday night in Florida. Much of it is directed at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which coordinates disaster relief with local and state agencies. FEMA has had to rebut falsehoods in a dedicated page on its website, and government officials have scrambled to get messages out to concerned residents.

Among the baseless claims circulating online: allegations that FEMA is prioritizing nonwhite citizens in providing assistance, that the federal government is seizing storm-hit properties, even that the government deliberately caused the storm.

Why We Wrote This

Natural disasters have always created an opening for rumors and lies. But federal officials have been stunned by the volume of online misinformation around Hurricanes Helene and Milton. And they say the effort to combat it comes at a price.

“There’s been reckless and irresponsible and relentless promotion of disinformation and outright lies about what’s going on,” President Joe Biden said on Wednesday. “It’s harmful to those who most need the help.”

Mr. Biden blamed former President Donald Trump directly for amplifying some of the lies.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly accused the Biden-Harris administration of diverting FEMA disaster relief funds into housing for migrants. “They stole the FEMA money just like they stole it from a bank, so they could give it to their illegal immigrants that they want to have vote for them,” he said at a rally last week in Michigan.

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