Check the Facts Hurricane Rumors on the FEMA Website
As Irma approached and after Harvey, a slew of #fakenews began to circulate on everything from whether it is okay to have pets in hotels to whether you can catch the plague from flood waters.
To help combat the flood of rumors, FEMA has released a new portion of its Rumor Control site that looks at some of the more common rumors and explains why they might be true or false. He plans to update the site over time, so new rumors that appear will likely be addressed on the site as well.
Later on, if you see anything that sounds a little suspicious, you can check it out here .
As for the most common rumors. Here’s what FEMA says:
- Hotels and motels participating in the Temporary Shelter Assistance Program are NOT required to accommodate pets. If you have a pet and are heading to one of them, you should call first to make sure your pet is okay.
- Flood waters DO NOT bring plague with them. The plague is not spread by water, but by fleas.
- Undocumented immigrants will NOT be reported to ICE or CBP if they are seeking asylum and neither group is implementing immigration measures in hurricane relief locations.
- If you were in Texas, you did NOT need to file a flood insurance claim before September 1st. The law referred to in this rumor, the 1774 Bill, does not affect policies or requirements for flood insurance.