After Hurricane Helene had caused massive destruction in several areas in North Carolina including Chimney Rock, speculations about bulldozing the village have been going viral on the internet. Online posts suggested that federal authorities had told the village leaders that the entire village would be bulldozed to clear the damages made by the hurricane.
Several videos had been circulated on TikTok and X, where users could be seen spreading the misinformation causing further confusion. A user posted a tweet along with a TikTok video. The user then wrote:
"This is disturbing. Land grab of Chimney Rock, NC. Town to be bulldozed before removal of the deceased. Sicking and disrespectful. America is truly lost. Lord help us."
Another X user shared a video and wrote:
"This is Disgusting Chimney Rock a small town to be bulldozed with bodies still high in the trees and officials are saying they don't want the public to know about this Chimney Rock fight for your community during this horrible tragedy!"
The rumors are, however, false and must be debunked. An administrator identified as Stephen Duncan, with the village of Chimney Rock, North Carolina has denied getting any such order from the feds.
Duncan added that there had been no such plans of bulldozing the village, and any similar action would trigger legal consequences.
Chimney Rock Mayor Peter O'Leary wrote in a public letter about the catastrophic losses that the community faced during Helene
Amid the rumors and speculations about the North Carolina village getting bulldozed by the federal authorities, The village mayor Peter O'Leary issued a public letter, to address the village residents.
O'Leary described how severe the damages were that the community had faced as a result of the deadly hurricane. As for the rumor, several netizens who first circulated it believed that a meeting between government officials and the village residents took place.
According to the rumor, in the meeting, the government officials told the residents that the place would be bulldozed along with any bodies left behind in the area. The claims further suggested that the feds mentioned that the land belonged to them and that they had official ownership as well.
The rumors then suggested that the officials allegedly told the residents that they would do nothing about the bodies, which were left on the streets rather than getting cleared up. One of such tweet, which was posted on October 2, was viewed more than 3 million times.
In the tweet, the user wrote that someone told him that the meeting was held, however, things were yet to be official. According to the user, the person who sent him a message about the village knew a friend who had an AirBnB in Chimney Rock. Several other netizens then began sharing similar tweets with similar claims and speculations.
Kerri Giles, who reportedly manages the county's transit system, as confirmed by Snopes, mentioned that a meeting had happened on October 2, but it wasn't about bulldozing the village. According to Giles, the purpose of the meeting was to discuss how to get federal & state funds to help rebuild the village.
Giles also debunked the claims that dead bodies had been left on the streets. She mentioned that this time they weren't specifically "overwhelmed" with the deceased in the community.
As mentioned before, all these claims which have been circulated across the internet, are false and shouldn't be believed.