In areas of the United States affected by Hurricane Helen, residents canceled federal services: EADaily

In the United States, federal emergency responders working in areas of North Carolina affected by Hurricane Helen stopped and left due to warnings about the threat of “armed militias,” the Washington Post wrote.

This happened on the evening of Saturday, October 12. A representative from the US Forest Service, which assists the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), sends an urgent message to federal agencies.

They said the National Guard had seen “two trucks of armed militiamen who said they were hunting FEMA,” and advised “all federal emergency responders in Rutherford County, North Carolina, to stop their set to work and evacuate the county immediately. “

Rescuers moved to safety and suspended some work in the affected area, including clearing roads of fallen trees, which is essential for search and rescue teams and trucks that deliver food. By noon the next day, October 13, all the workers had returned to their places.

FEMA is a division of the US Department of Homeland Security that coordinates efforts to manage and respond to disasters that cannot be handled by local authorities.

The Washington Post previously reported that emergency management officials encountered anti-Semitism and hostility over conspiracy theories at hurricane relief sites. The reason was positions in X in which officials of Jewish origin were accused of conspiring to organize disasters, looting and trying to prevent rebuilt.

FEMA has debunked some of the rumors on its website and clarified other false information. The North Carolina Department of Public Safety confirmed that federal workers are working around the clock to save lives.

One of the centers of tension was the town of Chimney Rock in Rutherford County. There, a rumor spread that government officials planned to enter the hurricane-ravaged settlement and hide the bodies under the rubble. According to WP, this conspiracy theory was rejected by local authorities and the media, but there were still calls on social networks to create a militia and oppose FEMA’s plans.

Now FEMA is working carefully, and groups of employees of this agency are now working in clearly defined places and only in an area known to be safe, against established practice going from door to door, said a source close to the group. the publication.

Residents of the affected areas began harassing federal workers, a Forest Service employee told the newspaper. Riva Duncan. She described incidents in which local residents shouted at department officials delivering aid or doing repairs: “We don’t need your help here.” One Forest Service employee was cried at a gas station: “We don’t want the government here.”

“It’s terrible because many of these people who need help are being turned away because of the credibility of what people are saying about FEMA and the government. And it’s sad because they probably need the most help.” – Duncan gave a summary.

Helen is a Category 4 hurricane that hit the southeastern United States in late September. Across western North Carolina, communities were destroyed, communications, power and water supplies were disrupted. More than 250 people died.

According to the National Hurricane Center, Helen is the deadliest tropical cyclone to hit the US mainland since 2005, when Hurricane Katrina killed 1,400 people.