Hurricane Helene hit Florida’s gulf coast on Thursday, September 26th, barreling up the eastern part of the country into Kentucky. A second major hurricane, Milton, made landfall in Florida late Wednesday night, only two weeks after Helene. 

The aftermath of Helene and FEMA’s response brought a plethora of misleading narratives, spanning from the financial limits of emergency aid to weather control. In response, FEMA implemented a “rumor response” page to their website, which addresses the most common misleading claims. 

Voices on the right called into question FEMA’s effectiveness and priorities, criticizing it for its focus on social issues and misinformation rather than aiding victims of Helene. Voices on the left pointed out the dangers of the misinformation surrounding FEMA but did not deny issues, such as understaffing within the organization, which the hurricane exposed.

A writer for The Federalist (Right bias) asked, “What’s the point of a federal disaster agency if the chief priorities of said agency are not to save Americans from disaster,” in reference to FEMA’s top three goals, posted to the agency’s website. He added that FEMA’s response “marked the natural culmination of a bloated federal agency being leveraged to achieve political goals well beyond its original intent.”

A Bloomberg (Lean Left bias) columnist claimed the emergence of a “new breed of disaster disinformation appears to be motivated by politics” in the wake of former President Trump’s comments on the FEMA response. “False claims create confusion for people in need of relief. Americans who did not even suffer loss from the hurricane may lose confidence in the government’s ability to respond to a natural disaster, putting pressure on Congress to reduce appropriations for relief,” they added.

The American Thinker (Right bias) featured a writer who criticized FEMA’s response to misinformation, writing that FEMA is “doing their job the same way Joe Biden does his, by focusing on 'optics' and public relations.” Adding, “their actual priority is not results, but finding ways to take the heat off themselves for their bad decision making and pave the way to increase their funding and power.”

A writer for USA Today (Lean Left bias)  argued, “While it's inspiring to see helicopter pilots rescue desperate survivors in the North Carolina mountains before a federal agency reaches them, it's also evidence that FEMA must do better. Our fellow citizens should not go without water, food, electricity or cell service day after day. We must expect more from our government and more for our neighbors.”