2018 Hurricane Florence

Submission 38,106

Overview

2018 Hurricane Florence is a Category 4 hurricane threatening the southeast and mid-Atlantic United States due to make landfall in September of 2018. It is the first major hurricane of the 2018 hurricane season in the United States.

Background

Hurricane Florence began developing from a strong tropical wave off the west coast of Africa on August 30th, 2018.^[1] In two days, it was classified as a tropical storm, and became a Category 4 hurricane between September 4th and 5th, with maximum wind velocity of 130 mph. After briefly being downgraded, it regained Category 4 status on September 10th. It appears as though it will reach the coast of the United States on September 17th.^[2]

Developments

On September 7th, the governors of North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and the mayor of Washington D.C. declared states of emergency, and on September 10th and 11th, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina issued evacuation orders for some coastal areas.

FEMA to ICE Controversy

On September 11th, Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon released a document showing the Trump Administration had moved nearly $10 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE)^[3] for the purpose of funding detention centers, which were controversial earlier in 2018 during the Family Separation Policy controversy at the U.S.-Mexico border. The document from the Department of Homeland Security notes that the funds were taken from "the agency's budgets for travel, training, public engagement and information technology work" and not the disaster relief funding. The money also is less than 1% of FEMA's $1.03 billion budget. Merkley appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show that evening to discuss the document.

Online Presence

Prior to the hurricane's landfall, internet users joked about it in several ways. For example, several satirical Facebook groups and events were created, including "Sacrifice FL to appease Hurricane Florence," which gained over 4,100 "attendees,"^[4] "Take Hurricane Florence and Push It Somewhere Else", which gained 11,000 "attendees"^[5], and "Playing Nickelback & Creed to scare Hurricane Florence away," which gained over 2,600 "attendees.^[6] Local South Carolina news site Post and Courier^[7] posted a roundup of Hurricane Florence-related memes (examples shown below).

Hurricane Man

On September 14th, Lane Pittman posted a video of himself shirtless and holding an American flag while headbanging to Slayer's "Raining Blood" in the winds of Hurricane Florence (shown below). Pittman had previously gone viral for doing the same stunt during Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane Irma.

On September 13th, Pittman tweeted a link to a GoFundMe^[8] asking for donations to help him make the trip from Florida to South Carolina to perform the stunt. The GoFundMe gained over $1,000, exceeding its $150 goal. Fox Business interviewed Pittman about the stunt during the Hurricane. Pittman stated he was “Just being free and American, man. I don’t let anything oppress me, especially no dang-gone freakin hurricane.”

Trump Photoshop Image

In the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, an image of President Trump appearing to perform aid alongside rescue teams began circulating on Facebook (shown below).

While the original post appears to have been deleted, the image was tweeted by New York Times writer Kevin Roose on September 24th, 2018, who debunked it as photoshopped. The actual image is from a 2015 flooding of the Austin, Texas Fire Department^[9] (shown below). In Roose's screenshot of the Facebook post, the post had over 275,000 shares.

After Roose's tweet, other Twitter users responded with their own edits of the image. For example, Twitter user @wajobu photoshopped the image to show Trump handing a man a roll of paper towels, referencing Trump's Paper Towel Toss from the Hurricane Maria relief. The tweet gained over 50 retweets and 370 likes (shown below, left). Twitter user @KimCostello posted a photoshop that gained over 150 retweets and 1,500 likes (shown below, right).