A man was arrested for after allegedly threatening to hurt federal employees in North Carolina who were helping victims of Hurricane Helene. The Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office arrested William Jacob Parsons, 44, of Bostic, N.C., on Saturday after receiving a call that a man had made threats against Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) workers, reports the Wall Street Journal. Parsons had a handgun and rifle on him when he was arrested and was released that night after posting a $10,000 bond. Parsons said he didn’t threaten anyone and that he was helping victims of the storm.
FEMA said Monday that it had made operational changes for the safety of staff and hurricane survivors based on information about threats. The agency said survivor assistance teams will now resume normal operations and housing inspections will again be scheduled in North Carolina. Helene, which made landfall in Florida late last month, tore through six states, leaving a trail of destruction. North Carolina was especially hard hit. In the city of Asheville in western North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, many roads were washed away and rural communities were cut off by floods. FEMA officials said their work was complicated by politically charged mis information, which they said may cause people to disregard evacuation orders or not seek assistance from the government. “We know that significant misinformation online contributes to threats against response workers on the ground, and the safety of responders must be a priority,” said North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Monday.
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