With misinformation swirling in Hurricane Helene’s wake, officials urge residents to ‘stop this conspiracy theory junk’

Local officials and relief agencies working in communities impacted by Hurricane Helene are urging residents to be careful

Local officials and relief agencies working in communities impacted by Hurricane Helene are urging residents to verify the information they are sharing or repeating, saying a deluge of false rumors is hindering recovery efforts. The hurricane tore a destructive path through the southeastern United States a week ago, killing more than 200 people, plunging some rural communities into isolation and leaving tens of thousands in need of aid. Like in past disasters, disrupted lines of communication and a dearth of immediately verifiable information have led some to latch onto – or invent – stories and rumors that provide explanations to questions that might not immediately be answerable, experts and officials say. “When natural disasters hit, part of our reaction is to be fearful, and to be keen for any way to try and make sense of things,” said Dr. David Harker, a professor and chair of Philosophy and Humanities at East Tennessee State University who has studied misinformation. As a result, Harker said, “we become hungrier for any kind of information that helps us make sense of a chaotic and frightening world.” Some of the rumors floating around in Helene’s wake seem designed to tap into peoples’ preconceived political biases. A popular rumor, promoted by former President Donald Trump and X owner Elon Musk, suggests the federal government is confiscating or otherwise diverting aid meant for Helene relief efforts as part of a political ploy. Presenting no evidence, Trump claimed earlier this week that the Biden administration, along with North Carolina’s Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, is withholding or diverting relief funds because the hardest hit areas are prominently Republican, while Musk claimed in a post on X that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is “actively blocking citizens who try to help.”