Misinformation Floods Hurricane Season

Este artículo estará disponible en español en El Tiempo Latino. The 2024 hurricane season has brought with it a deluge of conspiracy theories and false or misleading claims about storms that have devastated some parts of the country and killed hundreds of people. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida on Sept. 26 as a Category 4 hurricane and moved up the East Coast as a tropical storm, bringing floods and strong winds through the southern Appalachians. Hurricane Milton hit Florida about two weeks later on Oct. 9 as a Category 3 storm. Those intervening two weeks have seen a flood of misinformation on social media and from former President Donald Trump as he campaigns again for president. Below are some of the claims that we’ve addressed so far. We will update this article as necessary. In his continued attack on the federal response to Hurricane Helene, Trump falsely said that no helicopters and no help were sent to the affected areas for days, blaming his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. There’s plenty of evidence that helicopters have been used and that federal, state and local disaster recovery teams have responded to help victims of the storm.See “Trump’s False Claims...