Threats to FEMA workers pause Hurricane Helene aid operations in N.C.

A North Carolina man accused of threatening Federal Emergency Management Agency workers was arrested on public terror charges, authorities announced Monday, amid a wave of rampant misinformation about the agency that has hindered Hurricane Helene recovery efforts in the hard-hit state.

William Jacob Parsons – who authorities say was armed with an AR-style rifle and two handguns – made a “vague threat” that he was going to “go mess up some FEMA personnel,” said Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Jamie Keever. Parsons was charged with going armed to the terror of the public, an arrest warrant says. He has been released on bail.

The disruptions to aid service come as FEMA works to combat swirling conspiracies and falsehoods about its resources and responses to recent deadly hurricanes, including Helene, which devastated the mountain communities of western North Carolina and much of the Southeast.

FEMA has debunked false claims that the federal government is seizing land from storm survivors, only giving $750 to those who lost their homes and has restricted access to airspace amid search and rescue operations. The falsehoods have caused harm to both volunteers on the ground and impacted families, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said in a news conference earlier this month.

“It’s creating fear in some of the individuals, and so I worry that they won’t apply for assistance, which means I can’t get them the necessary items they need to support them,” Criswell said.

Fact check roundup:Alarming misinformation about FEMA circulates online amid hurricane recovery efforts

Initial reports spark fears about militia group targeting FEMA

Parsons, 44, was arrested Saturday after Rutherfurd County Communications Center received a call reporting that an armed man made a comment threatening harm to FEMA workers.

On the same day, the U.S. Forest Service received an email from FEMA, which said a National Guard unit working for the agency “came across some militia members who said they were out hunting FEMA,” according to Jason Nedlo, a spokesperson for the Forest Service’s Southern Area Blue Incident Management Team. The email was first reported by The Washington Post.

“FEMA has advised all federal responders (in) Rutherford County, NC, to stand down and evacuate the county immediately,” an official with the U.S. Forest Service wrote to other federal agencies, according to The Post. “The message stated that National Guard troops ‘had come across x2 trucks of armed militia saying there were out hunting FEMA.’”

Keever said there’s no indication there was a “truckload of militiamen” in Rutherford County, despite initial reports stating otherwise.

“After further investigation, it was determined Parsons acted alone and there were no truck loads of militia going to Lake Lure,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

Parsons was booked into the Rutherford County Detention Center on a $10,000 bond, which he later paid and was released. His first appearance is scheduled for Wednesday at the Rutherford County Courthouse.

Threats trigger pause in aid as FEMA makes ‘operational adjustments’

The threats have caused FEMA employees to temporarily stop accepting in-person applications for federal assistance in some of North Carolina’s mountain communities, according to a statement posted Sunday on social media by the Ashe County Emergency Management Department, which said FEMA employees would not be staffed in the towns of Lansing or Riverview.

“It is our understanding that all FEMA reps in NC were stood down due to threats occurring in some counties (not Ashe),” the post said. Later Sunday, the county’s emergency management department said FEMA would begin accepting in-person applications for assistance on Monday.

In a statement, Ashe County Sheriff B. Phil Howell also said FEMA had “paused their process” because of “threats made against them.” He urged residents to “stay calm and steady,” adding, “help folks and please don’t stir the pot.”

A senior FEMA official in Washington confirmed that workers have been pulled back from going door to door, as is their usual method of helping in disaster areas and are instead working out of Disaster Recovery Centers “as we work through this challenge.”

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity for security reasons, said FEMA staff were “not evacuated entirely,” but instead are working out of the centers, “which are fixed locations that have security at them.”

The official said FEMA is trying to combat a lot of rumor and disinformation “that is swirling” in disaster relief and recovery areas, “which can be challenging because a lot of it is, ‘I heard this, I heard that,’“ the official told USA TODAY.

The official said FEMA will continue to assess its security posture, working with local law enforcement.

In an emailed statement to USA TODAY, a FEMA spokesperson said, “For the safety of our dedicated staff and the disaster survivors we are helping, FEMA has made some operational adjustments.”

Meteorologists face threats as falsehoods circulate online

In addition to the falsehoods about FEMA and its relief efforts, some social media users have spread misinformation claiming that Helene and Milton were man-made and that the U.S. government played a part in their creation or manipulation.

Some conspiracies have gone as far as claiming that the government is targeting Republican states with hurricanes. The false claims have been spread on social media by conservatives and supporters of former President Donald Trump, fueling mistrust of meteorologists and FEMA workers.

Last week, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., reiterated her false claim, stating: “Yes they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.”

Other politicians have used their platforms to debunk the claims. President Joe Biden called the conspiracy theories a “reckless and irresponsible and relentless promotion of disinformation.”

Republican North Carolina Rep. Chuck Edwards released a statement responding to what he called “outrageous rumors that have circulated online.”

“Nobody can control the weather…Current geoengineering technology can serve as a large-scale intervention to mitigate the negative consequences of naturally occurring weather phenomena, but it cannot be used to create or manipulate hurricanes,” Edwards said.

Amid the onslaught of misinformation, meteorologists across the country have reported receiving hate comments and death threats from people who believe weather forecasters are spreading lies or aiding the government in a mass cover-up.

Some weather experts noted that while meteorologists have faced harassment and online abuse in the past, the recent wave of threats has reached new heights, according to The New York Times and The Guardian.

Katie Nickolaou, meteorologist for WLNS-TV in Lansing, Michigan, said she has received several threatening comments after posting social media videos debunking the conspiracy theories.

On Oct. 8, Nickolaou posted a screenshot of a social media interaction on X, formally Twitter. It shows a comment on one of Nickolaou’s posts in which she says hurricanes are not man-made. The comment reads: “Stop the breathing of those that made (the hurricanes) and their affiliates.”

“Murdering meteorologists won’t stop hurricanes,” Nickolaou wrote in response to the comment. “I can’t believe I just had to type that.”

(This story was updated to add new information.)