Hurricane season begins on Monday, and local leaders are urging residents not only to prepare for a storm making landfall but also to carefully consider where they get their hurricane information.
"We know misinformation and rumors can spread very quickly on social media," Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng said. "(It's) very bad for us when it comes to post-storm when it's critical that people get accurate information."
Sheng said social media has a bad habit of spreading misinformation, hampering recovery efforts and putting residents and recovery workers alike in unnecessary danger.
"Information is critical post-storm, and information needs to be accurate, or people are going to be making decisions that they might not make if the information's not accurate," Sheng said. "Social media: it changes how do your work. You're already chasing a narrative that's not correct. Before you even get out to explain what you're doing, you're having to correct a narrative that's gone and down the road."
Sheng urges residents to get their storm information from reputable sources, such as the National Weather Service, local government leaders, and respectable local news outlets.
However, Sheng acknowledged that social media has some beneifts.
"I remember with Francine, it was social media posts that I saw all the flooding that started in Kenner. It was the social media posts that I saw. It can do wonderful things for us, but it also can be very dangerous when it's inaccurate at a time where we need credible information."
