FEMA offices forced to halt Hurricane Helene operations due to threats, militias

FEMA has been forced to temporarily stop disaster recovery efforts in several areas suffering the impacts of Hurricane Helene. Those pauses came from threats on workers and, in one case, the reported presence of an armed militia.

The sheriff of Ashe County in northwestern North Carolina shared via Facebook that FEMA offices had paused operations in the county after facing unspecified threats in the state.

"Recently in the mountain region, there have been threats made against them. This has not happened in Ashe County or the surrounding counties. Out of an abundance of caution, they have paused their process as they are assessing the threats," Sheriff B. Phil Howell wrote. "Stay calm and steady during our recovery, help folks and please don't stir the pot."

Those operations have since restarted. FEMA operations in Rutherford County near Asheville were paused this weekend due to reports of "armed militia" in the area. The Washington Post reports that the concerns about the militia were shared via email and the outlet confirmed that the emails were legitimate through conversations with federal officials.

The news comes after weeks of right-wing misinformation about the storm and the government's disaster response, spread online and boosted by both Donald Trump and JD Vance. President Joe Biden has publicly condemned Trump, who has stated that recovery efforts are being intentionally delayed because Helene impacted Republican voters.

“Mr. Trump and all those other people know it’s a lie," Biden shared in a press conference last week. "It’s just bizarre. They got to stop this. They’re being so damn un-American with the way they’re talking about this stuff.”

Biden then addressed Trump directly, saying he needs to "get a life" and "help these people."

Admonitions from Biden haven't stopped the Republican strategy. Trump running mate Vance continued to spread falsehoods about the recovery effort on Sunday and Trump himself has moved on to spouting misinformation about Hurricane Milton.