FEMA Issues Warning On False Helene ‘Rumors’, Launches Response Page

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released a “rumor response” page in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which caused significant damage across western North Carolina late last month.

An emergency crew returns from checking the mud-covered side roads near the destroyed Asheville Tunnel Rd Bridge, in Asheville, N.C., on Oct. 3, 2024. Richard Moore/The Epoch Times

In an update on Oct. 3, FEMA responded to statements issued online about the agency’s response to the disaster, including whether it is running out of funding due to payments and efforts made to fly illegal immigrants into parts of the United States.

“FEMA has enough money right now for immediate response and recovery needs. If you were affected by Helene, do not hesitate to apply for disaster assistance as there is a variety of help available for different needs,” the agency wrote.

It also said that “no money is being diverted” from federal Helene disaster response efforts and that claims that “funding for FEMA disaster response was diverted to support international efforts or border related issues” are “false.”

The agency did not provide specific examples of the online claims about its funding that it described as false.

Earlier this week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott wrote that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the Department of Homeland Security, and FEMA should “immediately stop spending money on illegal immigration resettlement and redirect those funds to areas hit by the hurricane” and “put Americans first.”

He was responding to Mayorkas’s comments to reporters that FEMA, overseen by his agency, “does not have the funds” to make it until the end of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, which is Nov. 30.

“We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have,” Mayorkas told a press gaggle on Air Force One. “We are expecting another hurricane hitting. We do not have the funds. FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season and … what is imminent.”

The Epoch Times contacted DHS and FEMA for comment on Friday but received no reply by publication time.

“The Biden–Harris administration took more than a billion tax dollars that had been allocated to FEMA for disaster relief and used it to house illegal aliens,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote on X. “Now, they’ve abandoned American hurricane victims in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee.”

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) echoed that claim, saying FEMA’s move to spend “over a billion dollars on illegals while they leave Americans stranded and without help is treasonous.”

Another claim purportedly circulating online was that FEMA was asking for cash donations and is turning away volunteers in North Carolina. But FEMA’s website says it is false.

“FEMA does not ask for or generally accept any cash donations or volunteers for disaster response,” the agency wrote. “We do encourage people who want to help to volunteer with or donate cash to reputable voluntary or charitable organizations. After a disaster, cash is often the best way to help as it provides the greatest flexibility for these reputable organizations working on the ground to purchase exactly what is needed.”

The American Red Cross, meanwhile, wrote in a lengthy post on X that allegations the organization is throwing away or confiscating donated items is not true.

“We are not confiscating, removing or discarding donated items. We focus on providing shelter, food, and relief after disasters,” the Red Cross wrote. “While we don’t accept physical donations, as managing them takes time and resources away from our mission, we work with community partners who are better equipped with these resources to handle and distribute these items. For information on where donated goods are available, please call 211.”

It also addressed claims that the Red Cross is not available in North Carolina or is “taking over shelters.”

“We do not forcefully take over shelters. However, we do provide management support at the request of partners,” the organization said, adding that the claims it isn’t there are “simply not true.”

The death toll from Helene is at least 215, making it the deadliest storm to hit the United States since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.