US humanitarian chief slams false claims about Helene’s response as ‘truly dangerous narrative’

WASHINGTON – The U.S. government’s top disaster relief official said Sunday that false claims and conspiracy theories about the federal response to Hurricane Helene – spread primarily by Donald Trump – are “demoralizing” aid workers and causing fear among people those needing help in recovery.

“It’s honestly ridiculous and just plain false. This kind of rhetoric is not helpful to people,” said Deanne Criswell, who heads the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “It’s really a shame that we put politics above helping people and that’s why we’re here. We had the full support of the state,” she said, referring to North Carolina.

Republicans, led by the former president, helped create a misinformation frenzy last week among communities most devastated by Helene, promoting a series of false claims, including that Washington was intentionally withholding aid to people in Republican areas.

Trump has accused FEMA of spending all of its money to help immigrants in the United States illegally, while other critics say the government is spending too much on Israel, Ukraine and other foreign countries.

“FEMA has absolutely enough money to help Helene at this time,” said Keith Turi, acting director of FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery. He noted that Congress recently supplemented the agency with $20 billion, with about $8 billion earmarked for past storm recovery and mitigation projects.

There are also bizarre theories that include warnings from far-right extremist groups that officials plan to demolish storm-ravaged communities and take land from residents. A lie propagated by Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia claims that Washington used weather control technology to target Helene to GOP voters in order to swing the presidential election in favor of Democrat Kamala Harris.

Criswell told ABC’s “This Week” that such baseless claims about the response to Helene, which has caused catastrophic destruction from Florida to Appalachia and a death toll that rose to at least 230 on Sunday, have created a sense of fear and distrust among residents against thousands FEMA employees and volunteers on site.

“Local officials have helped push back against this dangerous — really dangerous narrative that creates fear of people trying to contact us and help us or register for help,” she said.

President Joe Biden said in a statement Sunday that his administration “will continue to work with local and state leaders – regardless of political party and no matter how long it takes.”

Meanwhile, FEMA is preparing for Hurricane Milton, which rapidly intensified into a Category 1 storm on Sunday as it heads toward Florida.