Unrelated old and edited videos shared as the visuals of storms, waterspouts, and floods caused by Cyclone Biparjoy - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 21, 2023
In the wake of Cyclone Biparjoy making its way across the Arabian Sea and set to make landfall in Gujarat and Karachi on 15 June 2023, multiple videos are being shared on social media claiming it is the visuals of storms, waterspouts, and floods caused by Cyclone Biparjoy at the sea coasts of India and Pakistan. They can be seen here, here, here, here, and here. Let’s verify the claims made in the posts.
Claim: Multiple videos showing waterspouts, high tides, and storms caused by Cyclone Biparjoy.
Fact: All the videos shared in these posts show unrelated old visuals of sandstorms, waterspouts, and floods that occurred in different countries of the world. A video shared in one of the posts was created using CGI. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
Update (21 June 2023):
Video 11:
Another video is being shared on social media claiming that two persons were washed away by the strong waves caused by Cyclone Biparjoy. But the video actually shows an old incident that took place at the Salalah Al Mughsail beach in Oman. In July 2022, eight members of an ex-pat Indian family were swept away by high tides on Salalah Al Mughsail beach. Five people reportedly lost their lives in this tragic accident. Earlier, when the same video was shared as the visuals of giant waves sweeping away people in Mumbai’s Bandra beach, Factly published a fact-check article debunking that claim.
Watch: A family is swept away by a giant wave on #Oman's Mughsail beach after eight members reportedly crossed the beach's boundary fence.https://t.co/2KHqOMobdD pic.twitter.com/w2auuYfUku
Update (19 June 2023):
Video 8:
Another video is being shared on social media claiming that it shows visuals of heavy rain and strong winds caused due to Cyclone Biparjoy in Rajasthan. A few users shared the same video mentioning that it shows recent visuals from Mundra port in Gujarat. On reverse image search of the screenshots of the video, a video with similar visuals was found to be tweeted by a journalist from Karnataka in May 2022. This journalist reported it is the visuals of heavy rains at the Hubballi airport canteen in May 2022. Several Kannada news channels telecasted the same video and reported it as the visuals from Hubballi airport in Karnataka. Earlier, when the same video was shared on social media claiming it shows the visuals of the Asani cyclone in Odisha, Factly published a fact-check article debunking that claim.
Video 9:
This post shared a video claiming that it shows recent visuals showing a tornado sweeping the streets in Gujarat. But on reverse image search, a video with similar visuals was found to be tweeted by the ‘PakWeather.com’ site on 15 June 2023. This handle tweeted it as an extremely rare and terrifying sight of a tornado formation in Jalalpur Bhattian in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Reporting the same, several other Pakistani news sites have published articles. They can be seen here, here, and here. The video is from Punjab province in Pakistan, not from Gujarat state in India.
EXCLUSIVE FOOTAGE:
🔴 Extremely rare and terrifying sight of #tornado formation in Jalalpur Bhattian, #Punjab this morning. Due to climate change weather extremities are becoming common over our region. 😯🌪️#Pakweather #WeatherUpdate #CycloneBiporjoy #ClimateEmergency pic.twitter.com/38NdXFd5sF
Video 10:
Another video is being shared on social media claiming it shows terrifying visuals of a tornado that caused because of the cyclone in the Arabian Sea. But on reverse image search, a video showing similar visuals was found published by a YouTube channel on 04 June 2023. This YouTube user shared the video mentioning it as the visuals of tornados formed in Fuxin City in Liaoning province in China. Several news sites published articles and videos related to tornadoes formed in Fuxin City. They can be seen here, here,  and here. Cyclone Biparjoy made landfall in Gujarat’s coastal area on 15 June 2023. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be confirmed that the video shared in the post is from China and not related to Cyclone Biparjoy which recently hit Gujarat’s coastal area in India.
Update (16 June 2023):
Video 6:
Another video is being shared on social media claiming it shows the recent visuals of the flooded Gudsiya village in Gujarat’s Jamnagar district after Cyclone Biparjoy hit the state on 15 June 2023. But, on reverse image search of the screenshots of the video, a video with similar visuals was found posted by the ‘Gujarat Weather News’ Facebook page on 13 September 2021. This Facebook page shared the video mentioning it is the visuals of Gudsiya village drowned in floods after heavy rains hit the Jamnagar district in September 2021. The video shared in the post is old and had nothing to do with Cyclone Biparjoy.
Video 7:
This post shared a video claiming it as visuals of a cloud burst that occurred after Cyclone Biparjoy hit India. But the video shows a CGI simulation video uploaded by a YouTube channel in December 2018. This YouTube channel published the video with the title, “Tornado CGI Simulation (Cinema 4D TurbulenceFD)”. Earlier, Factly published a fact-check article when the same video was shared in the context of Cyclone Nivar in 2020.
Published (15 June 2023):
Video 1:
The post claims it is the visuals of the Biparjoy cyclone moving towards the coastal areas of Gujarat and Karachi. On reverse image search of the screenshots of the video, a video showing similar visuals was found in an article published by the BBC on 02 June 2023. BBC reported it is the visuals of a huge sandstorm sweeping across the Suez Canal in Egypt. Reporting the same, several other news sites have also published articles sharing the same video. So, it is confirmed that the video shared in the post is not related to Cyclone Biparjoy.
Video 2:
Another video is being shared on social media claiming it is the scary visuals of Cyclone Biparjoy moving towards Gujarat and Karachi. On reverse image search, the same video was found published on a YouTube channel, with the title, “Superior Tornado at the Horizon”, on 09 August 2022. This YouTube channel publishes edited videos of severe weather conditions and natural disasters. Speaking about the video, the creator told ‘News Checker’ that the video was created using CGI and clarified that the video has nothing to do with Cyclone Biparjoy.
Video 3:
This video was being shared on social media claiming it is a waterspout caused by Cyclone Biparjoy in Gujarat. On reverse image search, a video showing similar visuals was found published by the ‘FOX Weather’ news channel in October 2022. This news channel reported it is the visuals of a massive waterspout swirling onto Cyprus beach in the Middle East. The video shared in the post is old and has nothing to do with Cyclone Biparjoy.
Video 4:
Another video is being shared on social media claiming it is the visuals of giant waves, caused by Cyclone Biparjoy, overturning a boat in the Arabian Sea. But the video shared in the post shows a monster wave flipping and rolling a yacht off the Pacific coast in the US. Sharing the video, several news websites published articles in February 2023. They can be seen here and here. The video has nothing to do with Cyclone Biparjoy which is set to make landfall in Gujarat on 15 June 2023.
Video 5:
This video is being shared on social media claiming that it shows a car drowning in a flooded stream in Dandeli, Karnataka. Many users shared the video with the hashtag “Cyclone Biparjoy”. But the video shows an old incident that happened in Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua. The incident had taken place in May 2023. The video shared in the post is old, not from Karnataka, and has nothing to do with Cyclone Biparjoy.
Earlier, when an unrelated video from Spain was shared as the visuals of high tides caused by Cyclone Biparjoy in Gujarat, Factly published a fact-check article debunking that claim.
To sum it up, unrelated videos are shared as the visuals of storms, waterspouts, and floods caused by Cyclone Biparjoy.