Before Hurricane Milton made landfall Wednesday evening, the storm had already broken records: In the Gulf, its rapid intensification was so extreme it evoked an emotional briefing from one weathercaster. Ahead of its arrival, the National Weather Service issued a record-breaking 126 tornado warnings. And when it reached Florida’s eastern shores, St. Petersburg received 18.87 inches of rain, half of which fell in just three hours — a 1,000-year event.
Milton followed in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which killed over 230 people and devastated six states only two weeks ago. The situation in the southeast is horrific enough, but these back-to-back storms have prompted another unprecedented deluge not of rain but of rumors and rhetoric that are wreaking havoc and stymieing relief efforts.
One Michigan-based meteorologist told The Guardian, “I’ve never seen a storm garner so much misinformation… I have had a bunch of people saying I created and steered the hurricane, there are people assuming we control the weather… But it’s taken a turn to more violent rhetoric, especially with people saying those who created Milton should be killed.” In response to one online threat, the Michigander wrote: “Murdering meteorologists won’t stop hurricanes. I can’t believe I just had to type that.”
Scientists haven’t been the only target. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) created a “Hurricane Rumor Response” page devoted to debunking some of the most rampant mistruths. Threats of violence have been levied against aid workers, too, with posts on social media suggesting a militia be formed and that FEMA workers be “arrested or shot or hung on sight.”
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said the mis- and disinformation has reached a level she’s “never seen before” and warned it’s impacting first responders’ morale and impeding response efforts. In North Carolina, a fake story about a dam bursting resulted in hundreds of people unnecessarily evacuating. In Tennessee, rumors swirled that federal officials were seizing and demolishing a town hall. Christian Nationalist Lance Wallnau initially called Hurricane Helene an “act of God” that allowed J.D. Vance to speak at his Courage Tour. But ahead of Milton, the “prophet” wondered: “Is the government trying to learn how to manipulate weather? If they succeeded do you trust them not to use this ability to stop Trump … from being elected?”
Post-disaster panic-mongering is not new, but its perpetrators are no longer relegated to the fringe. In recent days, Trump and his campaign wrongfully accused the federal government of deliberately neglecting “Republican areas” and stealing disaster response funds to house “illegal migrants.” (This is untrue, but FEMA is facing a funding shortage, and Speaker Mike Johnson refuses to reconvene the House and replenish federal disaster loan funding until after Election Day, offering hurricane victims his prayers instead.)
According to Brian McNoldy, a climatologist at the University of Miami, the Gulf is the hottest it’s been in the modern record. Researchers warn marine heat waves are becoming more frequent and intense, and an analysis by Climate Central found these temperatures were made 400-800 times more likely by human-caused climate change.
As Milton swelled, so did conspiracies about geoengineering, chemtrails, and, yes, Jewish space lasers. Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn shared a video to 1.7 million followers proclaiming: “Hurricane Helene was an ATTACK caused by Weather Manipulation.” Infowars’ Alex Jones told his 2.8 million followers the storms were part of “the federal government’s secret weather weapons system now targeting all life on earth.” And while Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s “Yes they can control the weather” post garnered over 40 million views, a Politifact post debunking Greene’s claim received just 11,500.
It’s no wonder FEMA’s and others’ attempts to dispel these lies seem feckless. Research shows fact-checking is only modestly effective to begin with and only if it’s done before a “false narrative gains traction.” But today’s algorithms quickly amplify fake news, overwhelming moderators and obscuring critical, corrective information. Plus, the most successful fact checks do not “directly challenge one’s worldview.”
That doesn’t bode well for millions of folks who’ve fully immersed themselves in the Trumpian surreality, “a group of people desperate to protect the dark, fictitious world they’ve built,” as one writer put it. After Helene hit, a family told reporters their “hardcore Trumper” relative was refusing assistance because “he literally believes that if he accepts anything from FEMA, they’re going to take his house.” After sharing an AI-generated image, one Republican National Committee member demonstrated the kind of defensive defiance that’s symptomatic of having one’s identity reality-checked, saying, “Y’all, I don’t know where this photo came from and honestly, it doesn’t matter.”
It does matter. We can measure the economic devastation of these hurricanes and quantify the consequences of climate change. But it is difficult to estimate the amount of damage this disinformation causes. These lies hurt us all, but the tragic irony is that they are most harmful to the people who believe — and elect — the liars.
Things could get worse. Under the next Republican presidential administration, Project 2025 promises to dismantle the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; disband climate change research at the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research; overhaul FEMA; and privatize the National Weather Service and the National Flood Insurance Program.
And on Monday, the compromised U.S. Supreme Court signaled it’s taking seriously a case brought by 19 Republican state attorneys that would prohibit efforts to hold “oil and gas companies liable for intensifying storms, rising tides and other disasters fueled by global warming.”
While our nation’s beleaguered meteorologists desperately remind Americans storms don’t care who you vote for, please allow me to remind you our votes do affect public policy, and public policy does impact our environment. We’re still woefully underrepresented in government, but we “Nones” have far more political capital than we know. This November, let’s use it.
Thanks for reading,
Melina Cohen
Communications Director
PS: We’ve checked in with American Atheists volunteers in the affected areas and compiled the following list of organizations that are actively responding to Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Please contribute what you can:
- Washington Area Secular Humanists is distributing vital aid — by four-wheeler when necessary — to the community of Spruce Pines, North Carolina.
- The Disaster Resilience Collective supports secular, humanist, and mutual aid groups in FEMA Region 4.
- Humanists of Tallahassee are providing emergency supplies in Taylor County.
- Neighborhood Fridge is supplying food and water in Central Florida.
- Central Florida Mutual Aid is assisting with emergency evacuation funds and disaster preparedness.
- Blue Trunk Community Network is helping elders and other vulnerable community members prepare and will deploy volunteer brigades to help with rebuilding and cleanup projects.
American Atheists is a 501(c)(3) non-partisan, nonprofit educational organization that relies on the support of members like you. Contributions are tax-deductible. Our Federal Tax ID Number is 74-2466507 and our Combined Federal Campaign number is 52217.
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