Hurricane Milton recently wreaked havoc in Florida, leading to the tragic loss of 17 lives. Over the weekend, power restoration efforts began for the 2.5 million homes that had been affected. President Joe Biden, during his Sunday visit to the state, pledged additional federal funds to bolster the power supply resilience and enhance emergency assistance measures.
This devastation comes on the heels of Hurricane Helene, which last month led to the unfortunate loss of over 225 lives in the southeast states. Although it’s challenging to directly link these severe weather events to climate change, scientific consensus suggests that our reliance on fossil fuels has heightened the likelihood of such extreme weather patterns by approximately 2.5 times compared to pre-industrial times.
However, these natural disasters are not solely due to nature’s whims, but are also influenced by human societal context. Prime among the concerning factors is the lack of sufficient attention and preparation given by governments, not only in the U.S., but globally as well, to the impending climate crisis. The reality is that almost half of all American residential properties, equating to roughly $22 trillion in value, now lie in areas susceptible to extreme weather events.
In addition to addressing these tangible effects, the U.S. now also faces a flood of misinformation and conspiracy theories surrounding the hurricanes, which unfortunately hampers emergency response efforts. The same far-right sources who previously spread climate change denial and COVID-19 vaccine myths have returned, enabled once again by the social media juggernauts. Officials have cautioned that this misinformation is placing unnecessary risk on local relief volunteers.
Humans are incapable of creating hurricanes or directing their paths, but this didn’t stop Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican congresswoman, from implying via her social media platforms that the US government has the capability to manipulate the weather. Alongside this, various YouTube and X posts that garnered millions of views insinuated that the government contributed to the hurricanes in an attempt to interfere with voters by directing such storms to Republican dominated regions.
Amidst the election season, Donald Trump didn’t miss an opportunity to make uncorroborated claims. He made false allegations about the emergency agency FEMA redirecting their resources to accommodate unauthorised immigrants, and insinuated baselessly that Democrats were reluctant to offer support to conservative inhabitants. Republicans also wrongly asserted that the aid provided by FEMA in relief of the hurricane was only $750 million.
These outlandish assertions were labelled as “beyond ridiculous” by President Biden. The reality is that even natural disasters with their sorrowful outcomes can be entangled in a web of fabricated stories and disinformation designed for political advantage. This serves as further justification as to why the forthcoming election, scheduled in less than a month, holds such critical importance.