Elon Musk on social media: a topic of rumors, conspiracy theories, and misinformation during the hurricanes response to Asheville

In addition to the stranger who parked a car on the same bridge that Freas assessed the damage to south Asheville, he has also had a few poignant moments with people on the other side of the political spectrum.

He says that with the climate, he had not heard anyone talk about how politicized his interactions had been before the storm.

The APPALACHIA REGION is located in N.C. It is election season and the federal response to damage caused by Hurricane Helene is a hot topic on social media. Some of the rumors, conspiracy theories, and misinformation are extraordinary.

Enough so that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is addressing them directly: No, FEMA can’t seize your land if it’s “deemed unlivable” and the agency says rumors it’s confiscating private donations are false.

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

Musk made a complaint on Friday that governments are preventing the private sector from being able to help people. Musk wrote that 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.”

A Federal Official Explains the Emergency Management of Jonesborough, Tenn. After Helene, Colt Truesdale and the Nolichucky River

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 aren’t any restrictions on aerial recovery operations.

In an area as dense as North Carolina, there is not a place that has been subject to more false online rumors than Chimney Rock.

He admits that FEMA could be moving a little faster than it has been, but he always finds the reason for it a good one.

FEMA may be wary of people with no previous experience living through a disaster. Over the years the agency has received bad press for its handling of other disasters, such as Hurricanes and Sandy.

Colt Truesdale, a North Carolinian who organized a donations drive and benefit concert in Mill Spring Saturday said people up here aren’t going to put up with the bureaucratic stuff. Like so many people in this part of the country, he’s not waiting for government assistance or leadership, instead taking matters into his own hands to help neighbors.

In Jonesborough, Tenn., where the Nolichucky River flooded rural farms and homes, there are echoes of the online kerfuffles but also a desire to step away from politics.

During the flooding her mother-in-law’s house was flooded, and she tried to clean up all the debris by putting it in a trash bag. “We’re just kind of focused on helping each other and just haven’t paid too much attention to it.”

A mile-and-a-half down the road, a local bar has become a collection and distribution center for donations and a source of hot meals for those helping locals recover. It’s also where neighbors catch up and share news—not all of it true.

There is no organization. It’s called community,” says Tabitha Swinehart, who has lived here for 30 years. Asked about the federal government’s response to storm damage she says, “Honestly, I don’t know what you’re talking about. There has been none. There hasn’t been any federal response. Over seven thousand federal employees have been deployed across the region.

Source: Helene recovery is more political online than on the ground

On the role of the federal government in bringing relief to Jonesborough, Washington, after the Helene tragedy and the 2016 November 5 election: An analysis by Jordan Swinehart

Swinehart then takes the hot meals to the mountain roads that are no longer accessible by car.

A man wearing a Trump t-shirt is the owner of a bar. “Pretty much all of my whole wardrobe is either Trump or Green Turtle,” she laughs. Jonesborough is in Washington County, which voted for Donald Trump in 2020 by a two-to-one margin.

Many conservatives are not fond of the government, Puzio says. While the bar only just got electricity restored, some of the politically charged misinformation about the federal government’s response to Helene has reached her.

“Somebody mentioned that [Vice President] Harris was going to be gracious enough to send $750 to ease the strain of losing your loved one and your pets and your home,” Puzio scoffs, “So I’m sure that’ll make a huge difference for everybody.”

The money used in the aftermath of Helene and other major disasters is not part of FEMA’s operating budget, but instead comes from the Disaster Relief Fund, which is appropriated by Congress.

Former President Donald Trump has accused the Biden administration of “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas.” But relief volunteers like Tyler King of Johnson City, Tenn., say they want to avoid partisanship now.

“I think we’re worried about the wrong things when that stuff becomes the focus.” “I think to go down those roads is a little irrelevant when there are people hurting, dying and in need.”

Hurricane Harvey: FEMA as a funding source for disasters in the North Carolina, and an ongoing measure of the DRF to fill gaps left by illegal immigrants

Along with FEMA assistance, volunteers and community food and supply drives help fill the gaps, and some of these efforts lead to striking displays of non- partisanship.

A wedding photographer drops off a Starlink internet receiver at a park in North Carolina. He gets a hug from one of the people in charge of the donation table for his contribution.

Meanwhile, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday he had no plans to bring lawmakers back from recess before the election to address requests for additional disaster relief as Hurricane Milton approaches the Florida coast as a Category 5 storm.

Not relevant to the current Hurricane Recovery efforts, that program is a separate funding source with a separate purpose.

Trump said in Michigan last week they stole the FEMA money and gave it to their illegal immigrants so they could vote for them.

Billions of dollars that were set aside for disasters ten years ago could be returned, according to an August report from the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General.

One continuing resolution proposed in the House last month would have included an additional $10 billion for the fund, but that version failed because it was tied to a controversial Republican-backed election bill that focused on further cracking down on already-illegal non-citizen voting.

“My Administration will keep the Congress apprised of efforts to assess the full resource requirements associated with Hurricane Helene, including for long-term rebuilding and resilience efforts, as those estimates become available,” he wrote.

The Congress has yet to pass supplemental funding for disasters that happened earlier in the year, which is bad news for members in communities recovering from major events. The money would not have been diverted to the relief effort since Congress left Washington at the end of September.

FEMA had to stop some of its spending before the fiscal year ended due to the need to put in place “Immediate needs funding” that put a stop to some agency spending that wasn’t tied to life-saving and life-sustaining efforts.

October is the start of the federal government’s fiscal year, and a stopgap spending measure approved by lawmakers last month replenished the DRF at last year’s baseline level of $20 billion, though some of that money is reserved for ongoing recovery efforts from previous disasters and projects to mitigate future impacts.

Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas reportedly said the agency “does not have the funds to make it through” the rest of hurricane season.

Another popular refrain that has gained traction on the right in recent days is the claim that FEMA has no money for hurricane recovery because of money spent on migrants, something that is not true.

The claims have become so common that FEMA has created a response page in order to debunk myths around how disaster funding works.

More than 3,000 North Carolina residents have been rescued or supported by over 1,200 urban search and rescue personnel, with recovery efforts aided by the National Guard and active-duty troops. North Carolina has also received $100 million in federal transportation funds to rebuild roads and bridges washed out by the storm.

Trump said that the people who had homes washed away were offered $750. We send billions of dollars to foreign countries that people have never heard of. They’re offering them $750. They have been destroyed. The people have been destroyed.