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A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) official has been suspended after ordering disaster relief workers to avoid helping the houses having a Trump sign, Fox News reported.

After the devastating hurricane in Florida, relief workers were deployed in the affected areas but the official directed them to not help the homes "advertising" for the US President-elect Donald Trump.

In a statement to Fox News, a FEMA spokesperson said the organisation is "deeply disturbed" after the incident confirming that the official directing the workers was given no instruction from the agency to avoid those houses.

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"While we believe this is an isolated incident, we have taken measures to remove the employee from their role and are investigating the matter to prevent this from happening ever again," the spokesperson told Fox News.

"The employee who issued this guidance had no authority and was given no direction to tell teams to avoid these homes, and we are reaching out to the people who may have not been reached as a result of this incident," he added.

Also read | Pentagon officials brace for illegal orders from Donald Trump: Reports

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FEMA said it is taking the incident: extremely serious" and investing in it, Fox News reported.

FEMA vs Trump

Donald Trump slammed the federal response to a devastating hurricane just a week before the US elections, as his rival Kamala Harris pushed for moderate Republican votes in the closing stretch of a deadlocked White House race.

Trump, who notched his narrowest victory in North Carolina when he lost to Joe Biden in 2020, toured storm-damaged parts of hard-hit Asheville.

Officials in the state were forced to issue hurricane response fact-checks after Trump and his backers pushed what Biden called "an onslaught of lies" about confiscated property, neglected Republican areas and funds diverted to migrants.

Also read | 'Money's not an issue': Man charged in Trump's assassination attempt revealed Iran army's plan

The 78-year-old doubled down on the conspiracy theories in Asheville, accusing FEMA of redirecting disaster funds to bring in undocumented immigrants and bolster Democratic votes.

"So I think it's a disgrace what happened with FEMA, what's happened with their rescue effort. Their rescue effort was almost non-existent," Trump said, according to AFP.

(With inputs from agencies)