FEMA Paused Hurricane Relief Work Over Warning of ‘Armed Militia’ Out ‘Hunting FEMA’

Retired Lt. Gen Russel L. Honoré , who spearheaded the joint task force managing recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina, harshly condemned a reported “armed militia” that had threatened FEMA aid workers in western North Carolina, resulting in them having to pause their work. At least one man has been arrested so far in connection to the alleged threats.

Multiple media outlets reported the story Monday about how FEMA personnel in Rutherford County — the location of Chimney Rock, a town that experienced widespread devastation during Hurricane Helene — were sent an email on Saturday instructing them to stop their work and move to another location because of reported threats against government employees from an “armed militia” in the area.

The email was “urgent,” reported the Washington Post , and “advised all federal responders Rutherford County, NC, to stand down and evacuate the county immediately” because National Guard troops had encountered two trucks of “armed militia” who said they “were out hunting FEMA.”

An official with the U.S. Forest Service told the Post that responders were relocated to a “safe area” and some of their work was paused, including “clearing trees off dozens of damaged and blocked roads to help search-and-rescue crews, as well as groups delivering supplies.”

Rutherford County “has become one of the centers of tension and conflict after a rumor spread on social media that government officials planned to seize the decimated village and bulldoze bodies under the rubble,” reported the Post . “Authorities and news outlets debunked the assertion, but people still took to social media imploring militias to go after FEMA.”

A FEMA spokesperson told CNN that the agency had “made some operational adjustments,” locating workers at “secure disaster recovery centers” to help rural NC residents affected by the hurricane apply for federal assistance, and pausing going door-to-door to offer assistance to people in the area.

CNN anchor Jim Acosta interviewed Honoré on Monday oo get his perspective on misinformation hindering post-hurricane recovery efforts, and how concerned he was about this story.

Honoré replied that he was “concerned, because it disrupted FEMA’s operation to serve those communities, particularly those isolated areas up in the North Carolina mountains,” which he described as “a tough place to get to” and provide aid.

This was “disruptive,” he emphasized, and “shows what happened when you rhetoric gets out of hand, just like on [the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol].” This “threat situation,” said Honoré, was resulting in troops working on aid and recovery efforts having to carry guns, and that was “sad.”

“What does that tell you about the level of disinformation that is out there in some of these hard hit areas, and what it’s doing to people in those communities?” asked Acosta, commenting that he had covered Hurricane Katrina and there was “misinformation out there, but it wasn’t like this.”

During Katrina, Honoré replied, social media like Twitter and Facebook were in their “infancy,” and they had to deal with stories that were claiming things like the government was blowing up the levees or sending snipers, “which was a lie,” and “we had to immediately get on TV” to counteract that, but this current situation was different. What we were experiencing now, with the “political season” and “total disinformation,” was “rhetoric” that “is causing people to not trust the government.”

“That’s the exact thing we don’t want to have,” said Honoré. “The government is there to help people, regardless of what others say. And it’s a process. And these people need help. And it’s a crying damn shame that we reached that level of discourse in American politics.”

Monday afternoon, CNN reported that a 44-year-old North Carolina man, William Jacob Parsons , was arrested by the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office this past weekend “for allegedly threatening harm against FEMA employees responding to Hurricane Helene.”

Parsons was armed with a handgun and a rifle and was charged with Going Armed to the Terror of the Public, a misdemeanor, according to a press release from the RCSO. The police began investigating him after receiving a call Saturday that a man had made a comment “about possibly harming FEMA employees working after the disaster of Hurricane Helene in the Lake Lure and Chimney Rock area,” along with information about the license plate and description of his vehicle.

He was apprehended in his car in the parking lot of a grocery store that is service as a hurricane relief center and arrested. According to the RSCO, he was released on a $10,000 secured bond.

Watch the clip above via CNN .