WASHINGTON (AP) — The facts emerging from Hurricane Helene’s devastation are heartbreaking: Businesses and homes have been destroyed, entire communities nearly wiped out, hundreds of lives lost, hundreds of people missing.

Yet this devastation and despair are not enough for the extremist groups, disinformation agents, hucksters and politicians who are exploiting the disaster to spread false claims and conspiracy theories about the disaster and the government’s response.

According to former President Donald Trump, the federal government is deliberately withholding aid from Republican disaster victims. Far-right extremist groups are warning on social media that officials plan to bulldoze affected communities and confiscate residents’ land. A story straight out of science fiction claims that Washington used weather control technology to steer Helene toward Republican voters to tilt the presidential election toward Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.

Experts and local disaster relief officials say the claims say less about the reality of Helene’s widespread damage than they do about fractured American politics and the fear and mistrust overshadowing an election year marked by assassination attempts and escalating global tensions.

Debunking conspiracy theories takes time in recovery efforts

While the rescue work continues and authorities try to separate fact from fiction, the conspiracy theories are not helping. Elected leaders from both parties have had to set the record straight and urge people not to give in to fear and rumors.

“If maybe everyone could just put the hate aside for a moment and help, that would be great,” said Glenn Jacobs, the retired professional wrestler known as Kane who is now the Republican mayor of Knox County, Tennessee. Jacobs’ post was intended to refute rumors that Federal Emergency Management Agency employees were seizing relief supplies from private citizens.

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Many of the conspiracy theories center on hard-hit North Carolina, a key state for winning the White House. Rumors swirled that FEMA was raiding storm donations and withholding body bags, forcing local hospitals to pile up victims’ bodies. One claim suggested that federal authorities would condemn the entire town of Chimney Rock and ban resettlement in order to seize a valuable lithium mine nearby.

False claims about blocked aid flights and withholding aid from Republicans

Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla,

Despite the tradition of Democrats and Republicans putting politics aside for disaster relief, many conspiracy theories suggest that Democrats like President Joe Biden or North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper are deliberately withholding aid from Republicans. Trump has made the claim, as has North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, the embattled Republican candidate for governor.

“They are being treated very poorly in the Republican areas,” Trump told Fox News, ignoring reports and photo and video evidence of recovery efforts underway across the region. “They don’t get water, they don’t get anything.”

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones endorsed Trump’s fact-free claim. Jones, the founder of InfoWars, popularized the idea that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut, which killed 20 children in 2012, was a hoax. “Exclusive: Victims of Hurricane Helene confirm the federal government is purposefully blocking emergency workers and stealing aid in an effort to keep deep red areas from voting,” Jones wrote on X on Thursday.

Disinformation campaigns from China and Russia amplify the misleading claims

State-run media and disinformation campaigns by China and Russia have amplified false and misleading claims about the response to the storm. Both countries have used social media and state news stories to criticize responses to past U.S. natural disasters, part of a larger effort to stoke division and mistrust among Americans.

State and local officials from both parties have condemned the conspiracy theories as hearsay and say the focus should be on recovery, not political division and rumors. Responding to the hoaxes takes time that should be spent helping victims, said North Carolina state Sen. Kevin Corbin, a Republican who urged his constituents not to give in to hoaxes.

“Friends, may I ask a small favor?” Corbin posted this on Facebook on Thursday. “Would you all please help STOP this clutter of conspiracy theories floating around all over Facebook and the internet… Please don’t let these crazy stories consume you.”

After Robinson, the Republican candidate for governor of North Carolina, posted that government officials had failed to prepare for the storm, a spokesman for the governor accused Robinson of creating “an online disinformation campaign.” North Carolina officials say the response to Helene is the largest in the state’s history, including thousands of National Guard members and other recovery workers, millions of meals, dozens of planes and more than a thousand chainsaws.

Trump has tried to link the aftermath of the hurricane to immigration, a major issue of his campaign. He falsely claimed that FEMA had run out of money because it had all gone to programs for undocumented immigrants.

The agency’s funding for disaster relief is tight, but that’s because many parts of the country are dealing with the effects of hurricanes, wildfires and other calamities. Disaster Assistance is funded separately from other Department of Homeland Security programs that support immigration-related expenses.

Far-away stories of space lasers, fake snow and weather control technology

Bizarre stories suggesting the government used weather control technology to target the hurricane at Republican voters quickly racked up millions of views on X and other platforms.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., endorsed the idea, posting on X on Wednesday: “Yes, they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous when someone lies and says it’s not possible.”

Far-out stories about space lasers, fake snow and weather control technology — sometimes tinged with anti-Semitism — have spread in the wake of recent natural disasters, including a snowstorm in Texas and last year’s wildfire in Maui.

Experts who study conspiracy theories say major events like disasters — or the September 11 attacks or the COVID-19 pandemic — create perfect conditions for the spread of conspiracy theories, as large numbers of anxious people are eager to find explanations for shocking events.

In response to the volume of false claims about Helene, the Red Cross urged people to consult reliable sources of information and think twice before reposting conspiracy theories.

“Sharing rumors online without first investigating the source and verifying the facts ultimately hurts people – people who have just lost their homes, neighborhoods and, in some cases, loved ones,” the organization wrote in a public plea.

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