More than a week has passed since Hurricane Helene destroyed a large portion of the Southeast United States, and in its wake a slew of disinformation about federal disaster relief and what caused the storm has spread across the internet.

While the people who started these rumors are absolutely guilty for bogging down hurricane relief with conspiracy theories, I cannot fault the people who believe them, because it’s true: this hurricane was totally, completely, unbelievable, so no wonder unbelievable theories have flourished.

Hurricane Helene flooded regions that were hundreds of miles from the coast. Mountain communities that used to get just a little bit of rain during hurricane season were pummeled.

That’s because climate change is heating up ocean waters and intensifying hurricanes, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It also causes more rainfall per hour, which is why flooding events are increasing. Climate change is making unbelievable weather events common.

Disinformation After Hurricane Helene Stems in Part From the Magnitude of Disaster

In a country that still allows climate change to be talked about as if it itself is an unbelievable theory, it’s no surprise that conspiracies during extreme weather events like Hurricane Helene prevail.

But the way these theories have been reported on by various newsrooms would make you think the Southeast is full of a bunch of tinfoil quacks. The environmental publication Grist, for example, wrote that “the dark corners of society have long typecast [the Federal Emergency Management Agency] as a sinister, all-powerful boogeyman capable of the most outlandish and fiendish deeds.”

Yet, there are some disaster survivors (who I would not say are from the “dark corners of society”) that are totally correct in their skepticism of FEMA. The agency has long been underfunded so its direct disaster relief is often one-and-done: FEMA officials come in after the storm, provide immediate relief, and then leave, offering further assistance from afar.

Read the full article about disinformation after Hurricane Helene by Claire Carlson at The Daily Yonder.