FEMA resumes door-to-door work in North Carolina after pause due to threats

Oct. 16 (UPI) -- FEMA resumed its door-to-door visits in North Carolina following allegations of threats to its personnel in some locations that were hit by Hurricane Helene.

The federal aid organization had temporarily stopped engaging victims in some portions of the storm-ravaged state over the weekend because of the threats. Authorities arrested one man on Saturday after allegedly making threats to harm FEMA workers.

"We now have resumed all normal operations, and I have people going door to door and we continue to be in the field," FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said, according to The Hill . "So let me be clear, I take these threats seriously, and the safety of these responders is and will remain a priority for me and my team."

The concern over the safety of FEMA reached a high after the hurricane when misinformation about the agency spread on social media.

The Ashe County Sheriff's Office said on Monday that FEMA in "the mountain region" had been targeted with threats and "out of an abundance of caution, they have paused their process. That news came after FEMA ordered all of its workers out of Rutherford County in North Carolina over the weekend before the arrest.

Criswell said during a press confernece that the FEMA pause did not affect any ongoing search and rescue efforts and other "live-saving" operations. Criswell said she accompanied some of her teams when they resumed going door to door this week.

"We are not going anywhere," Criswell said. "We have over 2,000 people from the federal family in North Carolina and misinformation will not deter us from our mission of helping people."