Unrelated old videos shared as visuals of Hurricane Milton

While Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida, USA on October 10, 2024, several videos (here, here, here, here and here) purportedly showing the devastation caused by the hurricane were widely shared on social media. Let’s review each of these images.

Clip 1:

The clip shows a tornado behind a building, accompanied by lightning and gusty winds.

A reverse image search of key frames from the viral video led us to the original video, which was uploaded as stock footage to the Shutterstock website on December 14, 2017. This video was altered using CGI to make it appear as if a tornado was forming behind the building. FACTLY had previously debunked the same video (here and here) when it was falsely linked to floods in Libya and China.

Clip 2:

This clip shows the roof of a building being blown off due to strong winds.

A reverse image search of the viral clip led us to a media report (here & here) from 2023 that stated the incident occurred in October 2023 in Sumaré, Brazil, where strong winds caused the roof to blow off.

Clip 3:

This clip shows a large ocean wave crashing onto the roof of a red-painted house.

We found that the original video (here and here) was uploaded in December 2023 and shows the destruction caused by a storm in the city of Gagra in the Abkhazia region.

Clip 4:

This clip shows the formation of a huge tornado over the city.

We found out that the video is from September 2024, when a TikTok user (@disastervibes7) posted similar videos of tornadoes and storms. Upon closer inspection, we noticed inconsistencies in the videos, such as: Such as reversed vehicle movements, deformed houses and vehicles, and merged windows, suggesting that these videos were likely created or manipulated by AI. Nevertheless, the viral video predates Hurricane Milton and has nothing to do with it.

Clip 5:

This clip shows floodwaters violently entering the building and washing away the furniture.

A reverse image search of the viral footage led us to the original video uploaded to the FOX Weather YouTube channel on January 24, 2024. According to media reports, massive waves caused significant flooding at a remote US Army base in the Marshall Islands in January 2024.