(The Hill) – The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) temporarily paused aid in parts of North Carolina this weekend after alleged threats targeted the agency’s personnel aiding in recovery efforts following Hurricane Helene.
Ashe County Sheriff Phil Howell said in a statement Sunday that FEMA personnel in North Carolina’s “mountain region” were targeted by threats, prompting FEMA to take precautionary steps and temporarily pause aid operations at other FEMA sites.
Neither Ashe County nor its surrounding counties were targeted by the threats, Howell said.
“Out of an abundance of caution, they have paused their process as they are assessing the threats,” Howell said in a Facebook post Sunday morning.
Ashe County Emergency Management said Sunday that FEMA staff would not be taking applications in a couple of towns, adding, “It is our understanding that all FEMA reps in NC were stood down due to threats occurring in some counties,” noting “we have not received any official correspondence on this issue from FEMA.”
Ashe FEMA locations would be open during normal hours Monday, according to the sheriff’s office.
The Washington Post on Sunday reported on an email from a federal official notifying other federal agencies that “FEMA has advised all federal responders Rutherford County, N.C., to stand down and evacuate the county immediately. The message stated that National Guard troops ‘had come across x2 trucks of armed militia saying there were out hunting FEMA.’”
FEMA personnel were back in place by Sunday afternoon, the Post reported, citing an anonymous U.S. Forest Service official.
The Hill has reached out to FEMA and Rutherford County for a response.
The alleged threat follows a rise in misinformation related to FEMA’s recovery response to Hurricane Helene, which struck many Southern states hard and launched broad recovery efforts from FEMA.