Fact Check: An old video showing a storm in Myanmar is being falsely presented as the damage caused by Cyclone Michaung in Chennai.
A video is in circulation on social media claiming to show the damage caused by Cyclone Michaung in Chennai. The 21-second clip shows rainfall, accompanied with gusty winds, flooding a street.
Floods
A video is in circulation on social media claiming to show the damage caused by Cyclone Michaung in Chennai. The 21-second clip shows rainfall, accompanied with gusty winds, flooding a street.
The caption of one user reads, “After massive earthquake shook #Philippines, now a warning of a cyclone is issued for southern states of India. Looks like nature's reckoning is onto something.”
Fact Check:
The claim is False. This is an old video of heavy rains caused by cyclone Mocha at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in May.
When we performed a reverse image search using Google, we found that the first part of the clip is from a video captured in May. X user ‘Andhra Pradesh Weatherman’ had posted a longer version of the first part of the viral video on May 14, the user captioned, “#cycloneMocha Fury over Myanmar now. As expected, a week ago, this cyclone is making Landfall now.”
We also found the longer version of the first four seconds of the viral video on the news outlet WION on it’s official Facebook account on May 14. The caption of the post stated, “WATCH | #cycloneMocha made landfall at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border on Sunday. It is destroying trees and pouring torrential rain.”
Upon further research, we found that a viral video was posted on YouTube as a short on May 15 by news agency Reuters. The YouTube short captured both scenes from the viral video: the flooded street and the rain-lashed building.
The YouTube description mentioned that cyclone Mocha pummeled Myanmar. Quoting Myanmar’s state-run media, Reuters reported that at least three people were killed, and over 1,000 buildings were damaged.
On May 14, Cyclone Mocha made landfall along the coastlines of Bangladesh and destroyed hundreds of makeshift shelters. As per a BBC report dated May 19, nearly 145 people were killed in the storm. The Rohingya minority was heavily affected, with 117 out of the 145 casualties belonging to this community.
The severe storm affected at least 800,000 people, making it the strongest cyclone of the century to hit the region. According to NASA, the cyclone reached Category 5 status, with winds roaring at speeds of up to 175 miles (280 kilometers) per hour.
Hence, the viral video is not of Cyclone Michaung and show floods and damage caused by it. It was captured in May when cyclone Mocha made landfall along the coastline of Bangladesh and Myanmar. The claim is False.