Unverified Helene death toll rumors flood social media

As the death toll rises in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, with search operations ongoing for hundreds of still-missing people, social media is full of rumors about the “true” death toll, with conspiratorial posters claiming the numbers are being tamped down in advance of the 2024 election. 

The confirmed death toll for Helene already stands at 189 people, the fourth deadliest storm in U.S history. That number may continue to rise, with hundreds of people still missing days after the storm hit Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee.

Rescue efforts are still underway as searchers are bringing in cadaver dogs to hunt through the remnants of devastated towns in places like the western North Carolina mountains and across the border in East Tennessee.

The uncertainty after the storm has filled up with rumors swirling about relief efforts and anger over a perceived absence by the federal government during the clean-up.

“Just spoke to a friend of mine in law enforcement in NC...he said that they have, and I quote: ‘Already used over 500 body bags, and there are bodies in trees, mud, cars, houses, everywhere...No Fed support whatsoever.’ We need @realDonaldTrump to weigh in LOUDLY!!” posted country music singer John Rich on Truth Social on Thursday, reiterating the claim that the Biden administration isn’t providing relief. 

In the replies, users posted similar, unverified reports. 

“My friend walked ten miles to the next town and there is a food distribution warehouse there (for food that goes to area grocers) and it had a row of several refrigerated trucks parked along side it and he SAW them piling bodies inside them, filling them all with dead people,” replied @PureValor. “And he saw dead people all along the road and in trees and everywhere he walked. He thinks when they report real numbers it will be ten thousand. He himself was listed as missing for 5 days as he and a neighbor cut themselves through the trees blocking their way out, no comms, little water, little food. This is no joke.”

Rumors about a ballooning death toll and hospitals overwhelmed with bodies have also been going viral on X.

“There are bodies that are floating down the water, babies. If this is not a wake-up call that our government is nor for us, then I don’t know what is … at the local hospital in Asheville there are over 900 unidentified bodies … people are floating down the river,” one woman said in a viral video captioned “Western North Carolina."

Mission Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, has reported dire conditions in recent days, including a lack of clean water and a devastated plumbing system which left people defecating in “bags and buckets,” nurse Hannah Drummond told NBC.

Drummond explained that patients were coming into the hospital drenched in filthy floodwater, filled with chemicals, unknown toxins, and gasoline.

A representative for National Nurses United, the union that represents nurses at the hospital, said they hadn’t heard any rumors about “900 unidentified” bodies at a hospital in North Carolina. Mission Hospital didn’t immediately respond to questions about the rumors.

Death tolls after hurricanes are often hazy, and the true number of people who die in a storm is often disputed. Ten years after Hurricane Katrina, in 2015, the numbers of the dead were reported by different news outlets at between 1,200 to 1,836 people. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) originally reported over 1,800 deaths, but revised the number downward to 1,392 people in 2023. 

But a number of conspiratorial posters tied it to the election, claiming Democrats wanted to artificially keep the numbers low.

“They don't want an accurate death toll before election day,” wrote one.

Confusion about the death toll and distrust in the federal government response to the disaster also led to anger after the FAA posted a social media notice barring drone operators from flying in areas hit hardest by the hurricane in North Carolina and Tennessee.

The reason the FAA gave for the restriction was that drone operators could interfere with search efforts, but the warning went viral on Thursday with people angrily rebuking the post, claiming the government did not want citizens to highlight the true scope of destruction. 

“Same move they tried along the Del Rio Intl Bridge in September 2021. They want to blind us to what they are and especially what they ARE NOT doing,” wrote @jmmagouirk.

Others, conflicting, argued the government was trying to prevent rescue efforts from individual citizens to make the death toll higher.

“They hate you and want you dead, and have the gall to pretend to be helping when they threaten people who do help,” added @buckshot74tim.

“The casualties are the goal they hate Americans with all their hearts,” replied @gorepainmeat.

But regardless, full death tolls take time to be completely reported out. And if the government were trying to keep it under wraps, they would not be updating it every day.

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