Thread by @jbendery

I talked to North Carolina state Rep. Lindsey Prather, who represents part of Buncombe County -- a devastated region where Asheville is based -- about whether misinformation is affecting the disaster recovery efforts there.

(Short answer: it is.) huffpost.com/entry/hurrican…

“The biggest issue is rumors and fake memes and photos of people being trapped in areas around the county," said Prather, who said local/state/fed govt officials are working around the clock to help.

"We send folks out to rescue them, and there’s no one there to be rescued."

Prather said there's no cell service for much of the area.

The problem is when people get WiFi for a few mins, go on FB and see posts about people being trapped, share it without verifying it, those posts "spread like wildfire," rescue teams rush out there and nobody's there.

The lack of cell service is a big problem for misinfo.

Misinfo has been spreading about certain parts of the county unfairly getting more help than others, when the reality is the disaster response is focused on getting supplies to the most highly populated and accessible areas.

“That’s impacting us, too,” said Prather. “We’re having to take time to respond to things like that, and explain to people how disaster response works.” huffpost.com/entry/hurrican…

I asked if she feels like FEMA's response has been good so far in helping this devastated community.

"I do," she said. "I think the federal government is doing everything they can. They’ve got a ton of people on the ground. Biden has flown over multiple times."

The conspiracy theories and misinformation about the federal government’s response to Helene have gotten so out of control that FEMA now has an entire page on its website dedicated to countering false claims about it
fema.gov/disaster/curre…

I asked Willie Nunn, a senior FEMA official in South Carolina, how damaging misinformation and conspiracies are for disaster recovery efforts.

“Misinformation always affects the people who are trying to help, and the people who need the help."

“It really impacts us because of the trust factor that we need,” said Nunn.

“The biggest thing, if the misinformation is negative ... is that the survivors, it will discourage them to call us. If we don’t know where they are, we can’t meet them where they are.”

Some of the conspiracies and misinfo being spread online about the disaster response in NC:

FEMA is stealing money from donations, the govt has denied body bags, bodies aren't being buried, the govt is controlling the weather from Antarctica...?huffpost.com/entry/hurrican…

One thing I'll add that didn't make it into this story: Prather saying nobody on the ground is playing politics with this:

"I’m in regular communication, as a Democrat, to Republicans all the time. There’s no partisanship right now. That stuff is the last thing on our minds."