Republican members of Congress are slamming conspiracists — including far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — for spreading claims that Hurricane Helene was “geoengineered by the government” or that federal aid workers are obstructing local relief efforts in North Carolina following the devastation.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC) and others are on the ground in the western region of the Tar Heel State and will deliver remarks in Asheville later Wednesday about small businesses wrecked by the flooding and high winds.
Many Republican and Democratic lawmakers have already been battling falsehoods about the recovery efforts in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida — with Edwards putting out a fact sheet on Tuesday to debunk myths about the Helene response.
“Hurricane Helene was NOT geoengineered by the government to seize and access lithium deposits in Chimney Rock,” he said, while noting that the federal response had been lacking in some areas.
“Local officials are NOT abandoning search and rescue efforts to bulldoze over Chimney Rock,” he also said. “FEMA is NOT stopping trucks or vehicles with donations, confiscating or seizing supplies, or otherwise turning away donations.”
“NEW FLASH —> Humans cannot create or control hurricanes,” Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) also tweeted at Greene (R-Ga.) after the far-right congresswoman claimed on X, “Yes they can control the weather,” and had been fact-checked by netizens.
“Anyone who thinks they can, needs to have their head examined,” thundered Gimenez.
Greene fired back in a follow-up post that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has listed more than 1,000 weather modifications on its website.
Follow the latest from The Post on Hurricane Milton:
- Hurricane Milton live news updates: Historic storm to wallop Florida
- Hurricane Milton tracker: Live updates on the storm’s path through Florida
- If Hurricane Milton wasn’t bad enough, monster storm is spawning tornado supercells to wreak havoc on Florida
- Hurricane Milton expected to be so powerful, it could forever change Florida’s coastline
- Tampa mayor warns Floridians who plan to ride out Hurricane Milton at home: ‘That’s a coffin you’re in’
Most involve forms of cloud seeding to cause precipitation, and none involved hurricanes.
“Online misinformation is making it harder for emergency responders to assist Hurricane Helene victims,” added Rep. Kathy Manning (D-NC), linking to a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) webpage combating the rumors.
At least 232 Americans have been killed by Helene, which made landfall Sept. 26 before ripping across the Southeast.
Other facts on the ground were initially hazier, such as when SpaceX founder Elon Musk claimed last week the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was shutting down the airspace to “regulate” private aid flights.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg set him straight after the two had a phone call.
“There was an issue with pilots who were helping get Starlink equipment to where it needed to be, having the right information,” Buttigieg said on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki” Sunday. “We worked that with local authorities and were able to take care of it.”
FEMA and the White House also appear to be at odds with Congress over whether there is enough natural disaster funding to make it to the end of hurricane season — or until federal spending dries up on Dec. 20.
“I have the funding and sufficient resources to support the ongoing responses to Hurricane Helene as well as Hurricane Milton,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told reporters Wednesday.
“But I’m going to have to evaluate how quickly we’re burning the remaining dollars within the Disaster Relief Fund to see if I’m going to have to go back in and ask for additional funding sooner than what Congress is planning on right now,” she added.
Congress has authorized more than $20 billion for disaster relief funding, of which Criswell said $9 billion has already been spent.
Just $210 million in aid has gone to the affected regions.
The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General audited FEMA and found another $7 billion in August that could potentially be redirected toward disaster relief.
Edwards blamed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for trying “to politicize a tragedy for personal gain” when he claimed last week: “FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season.”
Criswell said her agency was still requesting more relief funding before year’s end, which Edwards has said he expects will be passed in Congress after they return to work following the Nov. 5 election.
“We will be back in session immediately after the election,” Johnson told CNN in a weekend interview. “That’s 30 days from now. The thing about these hurricanes and disasters of this magnitude is it takes a while to calculate the actual damages, and the states are going to need some time to do that.”
As Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state and local officials batten down the hatches before Hurricane Milton hits, President Biden has promised they could reach him “directly” and his administration would provide them in the meantime “with everything else they may need.”
