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Thursday, November 5, 2026

False 'weather warfare' election interference claims spread during Florida floods - AFP Fact Check

"NO QUESTION THIS IS WEATHER ENGINEERING I have lived in South Florida most of my life. By November we are seeing wind and pressure bars moving SE not NW. THIS IS WEATHER WARFARE," claims conservative commentator Ann Vandersteel in a November 2, 2026 post on X the day before the election.

A screenshot of an X post taken on November 4, 2026

"DARPA, PENTAGON and FOREIGN FORCES are attacking Americans... This will be election interference too. I can't leave my neighborhood...over 3' of water just trying to get off my street..." added Vandersteel, who is known for spreading QAnon theories and false claims about environmental topics.

Other posts echoed similar conspiratorial narratives of "weather manipulation" allegedly deployed to block voters' mobility on Election Day.

Republican candidates held strong in Florida contests as President Donald Trump's pick Byron Donalds became the state's first Black governor and Ashley Moody retained a Senate seat.

But the night delivered a decisive victory for the Democratic Party nationwide, flipping Congress and signaling a shift away from Trump's stranglehold on US politics.

'Fodder' for conspiracy theorists

Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency on November 2 for seven heavily inundated counties in eastern and central parts of the state (archived here).

In response to the fall flooding in Florida's Space Coast, the state government issued a November 3 executive order, relocating 24 of its polling...



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