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Donald Trump made more eyebrow-raising comments about the nature of Hurricane Helene at a recent campaign rally.
Trump was at Rocky Mount, North Carolina on Wednesday when he began ranting about water’s role in the devastation from Hurricane Helene.
“I must’ve been the first [to visit the area], I followed that storm right in,” Trump told his supporters. “But I saw the devastation, I came back the following week because I didn’t want to get in, it was a travesty, it was a vicious, it was water, the water was the worst we’d ever seen, it was a water hurricane, that’s what it was.”
“It took houses right off the foundations and ripped the foundation, concrete foundations, like they were like they were paper,” he continued. “I saw areas that were just like, ‘God.’”
Hurricane Helene killed more than 230 people across seven states when it made landfall in Florida late last month. More than 100 people died in North Carolina alone, which was devastated by the Category 4 storm.
Rampant misinformation spread online in the wake of Helene. This included a baseless conspiracy theory that the federal government “geoengineered” Hurricane Helene to seize control of lithium deposits in Chimney Rock, North Carolina, which was battered by the storm.
Congressman Chuck Edwards, who represents Chimney Rock’s district, even had to release a statement debunking the claim.
Another falsehood re-upped by Trump during the rally was that FEMA money was handed to immigrants by Democrats, haulting the federal response to hurricane. “They don’t have any money for North Carolina, or a lot of other states, you find out they don’t have any money,” he said. “FEMA spent money on bringing illegal aliens into our country.”
During his Rocky Mount rally, Trump also noted that North Carolinians have beat early voting records despite the impact of Helene.
The record turnout saw North Carolinan’s cast more than 350,000 ballots on the first day of early voting in the state. As of Tuesday, more than 3.2 million people have voted in the Tar Heel State.
Kamala Harris also held a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina on Wednesday.
“If he is elected, on day one Donald Trump will walk into that office with an enemies list,” Harris told her supporters. “When I am elected, I will walk in with a to-do list.”
North Carolina is one of seven key swing states for the upcoming election. Trump has a 3-point lead in the state over Kamala Harris, according to the latest Washington Post/Schar School poll.
In all seven swing states, polls show Harris and Trump are neck-and-neck as Election Day approaches. Among voters across the US, Harris is just 1.4 points ahead of Trump, according to the latest average of national polls.
