Digital Art from 2019 is being falsely shared as a video of Cyclone Shaheen - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 26, 2021
A video accompanied by a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that the visuals are of Hurricane Shaheen on the shores of Oman. The post even claims that the video was photographed from Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of Hurricane Shaheen on the shores of Oman photographed from Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
Fact: The video is a digital art creation by an artist named Brent Shavnore. In 2019, the same video went viral with the claim that it was of Hurricane Dorian; Shavnore confirmed then to AP that it was his creation. Shaheen was a tropical cyclone which made landfall over the northern Oman coast on 03 October 2021. The cyclone had brought heavy rains and winds of up to 150km/h, killing at least 13 people after it had affected parts of Oman and Iran. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE
When reverse image search is done on the screenshots of the video with relevant keywords, the same video was found on Instagram. The Instagram video was posted on 20 May 2019 by a user named, Brent Shavnore who describes himself in his bio as an ‘Artist’. Skimming through the profile of Brent Shavnore shows that he makes such types of images and posts them online quite frequently. A similar picture was posted earlier in his Instagram profile on 12 April 2019.
The same video went viral earlier when it was being shared as Hurricane Dorian as seen moving towards Florida in 2019. The Associated Press did contact Brent Shavnore when they had written a fact-check in 2019 about a similar claim. Shavnore confirmed that he created the visual.
Shaheen was a tropical cyclone that made landfall over the northern Oman coast on 03 October 2021. The cyclone had brought heavy rains and winds of up to 150km/h, killing at least 13 people after it had affected parts of Oman and Iran.
To sum it up, digital art from 2019 is being falsely shared as a video of Cyclone Shaheen.