Hurricane misinformation stokes fears ahead of election

The flood of conspiracy theories and rumors following the severe weather in the South is sparking concerns that political figures’ embrace of misinformation is just the beginning as the general election draws closer.   

The spread of falsehoods about Hurricanes Helene and Milton and the government’s response may signal misinformation is likely to persist in the weeks leading up to and after the November election, experts said. 

The storm devastation in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina captured the attention of Americans across the country this month. With that spotlight came a deluge of false claims and conspiracy theories about the extreme weather and recovery efforts.  

Former President Trump helped fuel a storm of misinformation this month when he baselessly claimed the government purposely withheld aid from Republican hurricane victims. He went on to allege without evidence that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) redirected relief funds to migrants and attacked the Biden administration. 

The uptick in misinformation just weeks ahead of the election is no coincidence, misinformation experts suggested.  

“It’s no accident that we’re seeing a lot of misinformation now just because we’re a month from the election people are expecting to be very close, and so candidates are using everything they can to try and sway those undecided voters,” Darrell West, vice president and director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution, told The Hill. 

Voters and election watchers were already attuned to the potential for misinformation given long-lasting falsehoods over the 2020 election and efforts by foreign adversaries to influence this year’s race.  

The persistent concerns come as Trump — the Republican presidential nominee — continues to baselessly claim the 2020 election was fraudulently decided in President Biden’s favor, despite several recounts and investigations. 

West, whose research focuses on disinformation, predicted the misinformation will “get worse” ahead of November.  

“As, we get closer to the election, there will be a lot of misinformation about voting and vote counting, I think both right before the election as well as election night and the few days thereafter, when we’re counting the votes, there will be attempts to distort the facts and undermine the integrity of the election,” he said.  

FEMA refuted the former president’s claims last week, while several elected officials – including Republicans – called on Trump and other online users to stop spreading misinformation as it hindered the recovery process.  

In some cases, misinformation sparked calls for violence against FEMA personnel, progressive watchdog Media Matters said in an analysis last week.  

One post on TikTok claimed to be a “public notice” and stated, “We, the United States of America, have declared FEMA Personnel engaged in obstructing local rescue efforts in the area impacted by Hurricane Helene to be ‘Enemies of the State,’” Media Matters said.  

Another post said FEMA employees should be “arrested or shot or hung on sight,” according to the report.  

These videos have amassed hundreds of thousands of views, though TikTok said it has since removed the posts flagged in the report.  

Abbie Richards, the misinformation researcher behind the report, told The Hill the violent rhetoric follows years of misinformation sowing distrust in the government.  

“Political leaders and our information ecosystem have created belief systems in people where they feel like they cannot trust, like parts of the government and also parts of the government that are doing some of the most helpful work,” she said, pointing to election and disaster response officials.  

The contentious rhetoric surrounding FEMA reached a boiling point over the weekend when North Carolina officials announced the agency temporarily paused aid in parts of the state in the wake of reported threats against those assisting in recovery efforts.  

Officials later said a North Carolina man was arrested in connection with alleged threats to harm FEMA employees.   

The violent rhetoric targeting FEMA could be a precursor of what other government organizations could face in the coming weeks, Richards suggested.  

“If they’re so willing to do violence against FEMA, it indicates that they may be willing to direct that violence towards other organizations as well,” Richards said. “And I think beyond that, there’s this greater world view problem where they believe that like that, the system is so poisoned.” 

“We are stewing in even more politicization and misinformation than unusual when you’re three weeks away from an election and everybody’s trying to turn any new event into part of their political campaign. So, it’s hard to separate them,” she added.  

Others have spread conspiracy theories claiming the government and humans are “controlling” the extreme weather to purposely target certain voting districts ahead of the election.  

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) came under fire last week for embracing these theories, writing at one point, “Yes, they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.”   

At one point, Greene posted a map shared by an online creator who suggested Helene specifically hit Republican-leaning counties ahead of the November election.   

Helene and Milton “formed on their own due to the right conditions of sea surface temperature and upper atmospheric winds,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) told The Hill when asked about misinformation and conspiracy theories.  

“There is no technology that can either create, destroy, modify, intensify or steer hurricanes in any way, shape or form,” NOAA’s statement added.  

Disinformation about climate change, defined as misleading information intended to be deceptive, often unfolds after major weather events by those seeking to take advantage of crisis for financial or political gain. 

“This is opportunism, and … all of the people with a kind of vested interest in exploiting these crises and using them to push their agenda are all going to crowd into the space,” said Jennie King, the director of climate disinformation research at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.  

These events also often prompt emotional responses and conspiracy theories give people a chance to set the narrative, King said.  

“You feel a sense of enormous impotence and terror and dread about what is going on in your lived environment,” she said. “And so, you look for a neat storyline, or a narrative that provides some measure of control within that chaos.” 

The misinformation is being “turbocharged” by the wider electoral context in the U.S., she added.  

“You always have to think about who stands to gain from this moment, and how might they be converging in interesting or unexpected ways,” King said.  

“It isn’t just people who are trying to delay climate action that have something to gain by exploiting this moment and confusing the public about its relationship to the climate crisis. It’s also people who have political motives or who have ideological motives.”  

Updated Oct. 16 at 10:40 a.m.