Florida braces for Milton as FEMA tackles Helene, lies

What happened

Federal and Florida officials Sunday warned residents of the Tampa area to start preparing for Hurricane Milton, expected to make landfall as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday, nearly two weeks after the region was hit by flooding from Hurricane Helene. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell also slammed the flurry of misinformation being spread about the response to Helene. At least 230 people in six states have been confirmed dead from the storm.

Who said what?

A "torrent of conspiracy theories, rumors and lies threatens to undermine efforts to provide accurate information and crucial resources" to western North Carolina, Georgia and other hard-hit areas, The New York Times said. The "wide range of increasingly bizarre conspiracy theories," Politico said, includes false rumors of a "plot to drive out the population for lithium mining" and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-Ga.) claim that "an unspecified 'they' sent Helene to wipe out Trump voters in the region."

"One of the country's leading deceivers," CNN said, has been Donald Trump, whose "barrage of lies and distortions" include claims that FEMA is intentionally ignoring Republican-leaning areas, spent its disaster relief budget on housing undocumented migrants and is offering Helene victims only $750.

The misinformation verges from "frankly ridiculous" and "just plain false" to "truly dangerous," Criswell said on ABC's "This week." She and local officials said batting down the false claims was taking resources away from rescue and recovery operations. "Folks who just are begging for attention" or "want to sow seeds of chaos" are "the worst of us right now," said Mayor Tim Futrelle of Boone, North Carolina.

Governors of affected states have generally lauded the federal response. "We have the resources that we need," Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told CBS's "Face the Nation," though Congress should return to authorize additional funding soon. "I'm out here to say that we're doing a good job," he said Friday.

What next?

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said yesterday he doesn't think there is "any scenario where we don't have major impacts" from Milton. Residents "have time to prepare," he said, but people "on that west coast of Florida, barrier islands, just assume you'll be asked to leave."

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