An aerial view of flood damage caused by Hurricane Helene along the Swannanoa River on October 3, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis denounced some of the conspiracy theories that have emerged surrounding Hurricane Helene recovery efforts in western North Carolina.
“If you have any challenges, please call my office,” Tillis said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “If there were real issues, we would track them down, but honestly, much of what I’ve seen is distracting and doesn’t contribute to the core work here, which is to save lives and start rebuilding.”
Tillis also said statements about recovery efforts came from people who were not on site.
His comments came days after North Carolina Sen. Kevin Corbin wrote Facebook post Asking people to stop “conspiracy theory garbage”. Tillis said Corbyn was right to call on people to speak out against the claims.
Accounts of the federal government’s response to Hurricane Helene came from all over social media. One of the most famous promoters is Tesla CEO Elon Musk supported former President Trump and appeared at his home Butler, Pennsylvania rally Saturday. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg scold Some of Musk’s remarks on X on Friday.
Asked about Trump’s comments about the federal response to North Carolina’s recovery efforts being poor and emergency funds being used for immigration, Tillis had a two-pronged response.
“I think the president is right to say that billions of dollars are being spent because of Biden’s failed immigration policies and border policies,” Tillis said. “However, we have the resources we need and we are going to have to Go back and pass on more resources.”
He also noted that so far, immigration “has not” affected “the flow of resources to western North Carolina.”
At least 215 people were reported dead nbc news. More than half of the deaths have occurred in North Carolina.
——Rebecca Picciotto and Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.
