Fact-checking virus conspiracies caused by Hurricane Helen

This story is part of: emergencyThis is a Grist series exploring how climate disasters affect voting and politics.

Even as flood levels rose, conspiracy theories began swirling. Hurricane Helen, the deadliest storm to hit the U.S. since Katrina in 2005, was created specifically to target Trump voters in critical swing states. “That’s right. They can control the weather.” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right representative from Georgia, said this. Posted in On Thursday. “For someone to lie and say you can’t do something is ridiculous.”

Alex Jones, a conspiracy theorist best known for claiming the Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax, released a video to X claiming the government targeted Helen in North Carolina. why? It would force people out of the area so they could mine the state’s massive reserves of lithium, a key component in batteries that power electric vehicles and store renewable energy. The video reached nearly 1 million views in three days.

Hundreds of keyboard conspirators took to TikTok, X, Reddit and other social media sites to say the Federal Emergency Management Agency was withholding critical supplies to isolated communities across the Southeast. On September 30th, someone with the username “RastaGuerilla” posted: “Just came down from the mountain to deliver some supplies.” “It may sound crazy, but FEMA is directly confiscating donated items, cutting off volunteers from helping, kicking churches out of parking lots, etc.” The post received tens of thousands of likes, and similar messages from people claiming to have been in the disaster zone received hundreds of thousands of views and reposts.

It’s unknown what percentage of these bogus claims come from people who actually live in areas devastated by Helene, let alone whether they were spewed out by humans or robots. Regardless of who wrote it or what, the plot is as follows: obviously not true. FEMA does not confiscate items. The Biden administration is not trying to evict people from land they want to mine for lithium. And the federal government certainly can’t control the weather. For disaster researchers, the barrage of pointed conspiracies is further evidence that conspiratorial thinking is becoming an epidemic of sorts.

“We’ve moved into a space where conspiratorial thinking has become mainstream,” said Rachel Goldwasser, who tracks far-right activity and disinformation at the Southern Poverty Law Center. “All the tinfoil hats saying the government controls the weather now feel validated because even Marjorie Taylor Greene said so.”

Disasters always raise clouds of intrigue to question the legitimacy of governments. Dark corners of society have long labeled FEMA as an evil, omnipotent boogeyman capable of the most bizarre and nefarious acts. During the COVID-19 pandemic, conspiracy theorists have claimed: Medical supplies confiscated From hospitals and local governments. Similar rumors about FEMA and Red Cross Confiscation of donations In Lāhainā, it bounced off the internet after the devastating wildfires in Hawaii last year.

But experts say the storm ahead of Election Day has produced a toxic stew of conspiracies that reflects the broader conversation about immigration, workplace inclusivity and other hot-button issues that Republicans and conservative media outlets have tried to turn into cultural referendums ahead of November. said to Grist. 5.

One popular theory flooding online forums claims the government diverted money from FEMA to fund programs for illegal immigrants. “It is an act of treason for FEMA to spend more than a billion dollars on illegals while leaving Americans stranded without help,” Tennessee Republican Representative Tim Burchett said of . Another theory says the agency prioritized diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training over disaster preparedness. Immigration and DEI are central to former President Donald Trump’s re-election platform. (The former president appeared on Truth Social on Thursday, calling the Biden administration’s response “the worst and most incompetently managed ‘storm’ at the federal level,” before adding, “But their border management is worse!” Added.)

“It’s clear that there has already been discourse around these issues and that there are already people who are very concerned about this,” said Samantha Penta, a sociologist and emergency management and homeland security expert at the University at Albany. “It is not surprising that such concerns are being incorporated into discussions surrounding Helene’s response.”

Some theories reflect small aspects of the truth. In his video, Jones cited an actual government program from the 1960s called Project Stormfury as evidence that the government intentionally “sowed” the storm. This program, which explored the possibility of dampening the intensity of hurricanes by spraying them with silver iodide, ended in 1983.

Conspiracies claiming that FEMA confiscated supplies without participating in disaster relief efforts also contain piecemeal truths based on widespread misconceptions about the role FEMA plays in disaster relief. Many people believe it lands in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, where there are buckets of water, pallets of food, and armies of people with shovels and flashlights. However, it is better described as logistics coordination and check writing organization. “You’ll never see someone wearing a FEMA jacket putting sandbags in a riverbed,” Penta said. “That’s not their business.”

One of its key roles is coordinating relief efforts and distribution of supplies with local and state officials and non-profit organizations. FEMA generally does not encourage people to send relief supplies or go to disaster areas. This is not because they want to keep aid away from those in need, but because all the supplies and untrained volunteers simply get in the way and slow down relief efforts. That’s why states often echo FEMA’s calls to avoid harm and leave recovery efforts to people who know what they’re doing.

“The state of North Carolina is advising everyone not to travel to affected areas,” the North Carolina Business Emergency Operations Center said in an email Thursday. “We have real-time communications and power cables on our roads providing vital resources to affected communities that cannot be disrupted. The roads are not clean either.”

The federal Department of Transportation has placed temporary flight restrictions over the Southeast to prevent amateur drone operators and others from interfering with rescue efforts, alleging the federal government is conspiring to prevent good Samaritans from helping those in need. People were given extra food. “Do not fly drones near or near rescue and recovery operations for Hurricane Helen,” the agency said in a post to X on Wednesday. “Any disruption to emergency response operations will impact search and rescue operations on the ground.”

It’s true that in the immediate aftermath of the storm that devastated six states, many people were left to fend for themselves, especially those in remote areas or those completely cut off by the flooding.

Asheville-based entrepreneur Joshua Hensley delivers goods across western North Carolina. “Most of the government intervention we see is osprey And helicopters are flying around to bring things in and evacuate people,” he told Grist via a Starlink satellite hotspot on Thursday. “But as far as being on the ground, I’ve been all over the place and it’s almost entirely local.”

In the days before federal aid arrived, restaurants, breweries and other establishments in Asheville provided water, medical care and other assistance to residents. “All of our staff and community members have given their time and energy to volunteer,” said Mae Walker, a service worker who lives in the city. “Besides restoring power, there is much more than visible assistance provided by police or other city officials.”

In the days following the storm, local pilots used the Asheville Airport as a distribution center to transport supplies to isolated communities and conduct search and rescue operations. But as the massive state and federal disaster relief agencies began to operate, their efforts became more of a hindrance than a help, and airport officials asked them to stop when the state took over the effort.

The misconception that the government does not respond to disasters and the fake conspiracy theories that amplify this can have dangerous implications. The Southern Policy Law Center has heard credible reports that far-right militias and white supremacist organizations are moving into the region to offer support, and if past disasters are any indication, we may be seeking sympathy for their cause. I express it.

“The more people who believe that FEMA doesn’t exist or that FEMA has spent all of its money on DEI and things like that, the more groups they believe, like militias, are needed in those areas,” Goldwasser said. “They are trying to achieve their own agenda and goals that supersede the needs of the people on the ground who need help.”

It’s easy to see how in the chaotic hours and days following the disaster, people may feel that the government has abandoned the people of the affected areas. But conspiracy theories sprouting online, and the politicians and pundits who spread them, obscure the truth that disaster relief work is messy and often flawed. “FEMA is a human-created and run agency,” Penta said. “You’re going to make mistakes, things are going to go wrong, and you’re going to get criticized for it.”

Such criticism is fair and even justified. FEMA chronically underfunded The situation will only get worse over the coming decades as climate-induced disasters become more common, more destructive and more costly. Compounding the problem is the growing polarization of American society and the fact that many people only see the worst of the government and the people who work in it. The confluence of these two trends creates fertile ground for conspiracy theories to thrive, and suggests that the flood of lies will continue to grow long after the waters that flooded the Southeast recede.