By Moira Warburton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -As U.S. officials struggle to push back against disinformation about natural disasters hitting the country, a Republican lawmaker from a hard-hit district condemned conspiracy theories repeated by fellow Republicans in Congress.
Representative Chuck Edwards, who represents a North Carolina district hit hard by flooding caused by Hurricane Helene in late September, called out the “outrageous rumors” spread by “untrustworthy sources trying to spark chaos.”
The flooding decimated much of North Carolina’s inland west, an unexpected outcome in a state which is used to dealing with hurricanes along its Atlantic coast.
Over 80,000 homes and businesses in the state still do not have power, and many communities remain isolated by roads wiped out by the floods.
One of the sources of disinformation is fellow Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who has used both her official congressional social media account and her personal account to spread such disinformation.
“Ask your government if the weather is manipulated or controlled. Did you ever give permission to them to do it? Are you paying for it? Of course you are,” Greene wrote in one such post on her official account on Monday.
Edwards directly called out this falsehood in his statement, without naming Greene.
“Nobody can control the weather,” he said. “Please make sure you are fact checking what you read online with a reputable source.”
Greene’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Representative Carlos Gimenez, a Florida Republican representing the very southern tip of the state, also condemned the conspiracy theories.
“There’s no place for misinformation, especially when it’s on purpose, at times like this,” the former Miami-Dade County mayor said on CNN on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Moira Warburton; Editing by Scott Malone and Jonathan Oatis)
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