Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday that 92 people were still missing in hard-hit North Carolina following the “catastrophic disaster” left by Hurricane Helene.

The number will continue to fluctuate as new reports come in and other reports are resolved, Cooper said.

Officials said 95 people died in the storm in North Carolina. The total death toll in the southeast has exceeded 230.

This comes as North Carolina continues to face “a persistent and dangerous stream of misinformation” about recovery efforts, the governor said.

“When people claim that help is not coming to Western North Carolina — which is completely untrue and a lie — it makes the people who are actually helping on the ground feel demoralized,” Cooper said.

“If you are participating in spreading this stuff, stop it,” Cooper said. “Whatever your goal, the people you are really hurting are those in Western North Carolina who need help. The safety of our government and volunteer responders, including FEMA, remains our top priority.”

The governor said he had directed the state Department of Public Safety to “coordinate law enforcement support to FEMA and other responders that they need to ensure their safety so that people can continue to receive the assistance they need.” urgently need.”

This weekend, a Bostic, North Carolina, man armed with a pistol and a rifle was arrested for allegedly threatening to harm Federal Emergency Management Agency workers in the state, authorities said.

Cooper said FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell made the decision to halt canvassing in certain areas “for a short period of time over the weekend.”

“We don’t want something like this to happen,” he said. “We don’t know how many people will not apply for FEMA because they have heard misinformation about FEMA confiscating their property or other wild accusations.”

Criswell said, “Over the weekend, out of an abundance of caution, we made operational changes to ensure the safety of FEMA personnel, but none of the changes we made impacted ongoing search and rescue operations or other life safety operations.”

“It is heartbreaking to see words or acts of hate directed at anyone, let alone the federal responders who are here to help people at this critical time,” Criswell said.

“We’re not going anywhere,” she said. “Misinformation will not stop us from our mission.”

Chris Kavanaugh, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia and chairman of the U.S. attorney's subcommittee on terrorism and national security, said in a statement to ABC News that he is seeing an increase in threats against FEMA employees.

“We are investigating these threats and will seek to hold accountable anyone who attempts to threaten or intimidate FEMA employees,” he said.

And when North Carolinians go to the polls on Thursday to begin early in-person voting, all but four of the state's more than 400 early voting sites will be open, despite significant damage from Helene, Karen, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections said Brinson Bell.

The four early voting sites that are no longer in operation are all in hard-hit Buncombe County, where 10 sites will operate instead of the 14 originally planned, she said.

In the 25 counties most impacted by the storm, Brinson Bell acknowledged that voting “might look a little different” at polling places where there is no power or plumbing, and she said the state is still working on it determine how many locations will be operational by election day.

Brinson Bell said she expects the majority of North Carolinians will cast their vote through in-person early voting, similar to previous election years when more than 60% of voters used in-person early voting.

Brinson Bell dismissed the misinformation that the recovery effort has been partisan, pointing out that the nonpartisan state election board unanimously approved recent ballot measures.

“We've heard accusations that we're handling this situation in a biased way, and that's simply not true,” Brinson Bell said.

She also pointed to increasing “vitriol” directed at poll workers via social media and condemned any threats against poll workers.

“When you do that, you're threatening someone – your former English teacher, your former Boy Scout master, your basketball coach, the person you pass at the grocery store,” Brinson Bell said. “Focus on casting your vote and making sure your fellow citizens go to the polls… and stop the threats and the rhetoric because these are people who are just doing their job to serve you, so that you To be able to cast your vote.”