Supposed Helene video clips circulated on TikTok before hurricane formed | Fact check

Joedy McCreary, USA TODAY

The claim: Video shows Hurricane Helene in Florida

A Sept. 26 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows an array of storm footage that includes tornadoes, large waves and whipping winds.

“Hurricane Helene in Florida. Wow!” reads text in the video, which was first shared on TikTok. “9/25/2024.”

The video was shared tens of thousands of times on TikTok.

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Our rating: False

The video is miscaptioned. That's not Hurricane Helene. The shots in the video predate the formation of that hurricane by weeks or months. Two of the clips were likely edited using computer graphics or an artificial intelligence tool, an AI expert said.

Clips contain 'obvious exaggerations,' circulated on TikTok before Helene formed

Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida on Sept. 26 as the first Category 4 storm to hit the state’s Big Bend region since records began in 1851. It caused historic flooding across multiple states and left millions without power and, as of Sept. 27, at least 30 dead.

Fact check: Video of Florida waterspout falsely linked to Hurricane Idalia

But the clips that make up the montage in the Instagram post do not show Helene, which made landfall a day after the date in the video's text. Rather, they circulated on social media for weeks or, in one case, months before the storm churned toward the southeastern U.S. Many were shared by the same TikTok user who posted the Sept. 23 video.

Two shots in the video – one showing a waterspout near a railway, and another showing a flaming tornado with a bolt of lightning – were likely created using computer graphics and an AI tool, said Walter Scheirer, an engineering professor at Notre Dame whose area of research includes visual recognition. In an email to USA TODAY, he called those elements "obvious exaggerations that are highly unrealistic."

Other clips also matched prior videos. USA TODAY didn't confirm the origin of the videos, which have previously circulated attributed to other weather events, but all clearly predate Helene:

  • The waterspout clip also appears in other videos posted to TikTok, including one shared Sept. 6 and another posted Sept. 11.

  • The video of a massive wave crashing over a building’s roof also appears in the Sept. 11 video but is flipped.

  • A clip showing a downed tree and a yellow car from above is included in an Aug. 28 TikTok video.

  • The shot with the flaming tornado is a flipped version of a June 6 TikTok video.

  • A clip showing wind-blown palm trees and what appears to be a distant hotel surrounded by water is included in an Aug. 15 TikTok video.

Miscaptioned natural disaster videos are frequent sources of misinformation. USA TODAY previously debunked false claims that videos show Hurricane Beryl in Jamaica, Hurricane Idalia in Florida and Tropical Storm Debby in North Carolina.

USA TODAY reached out to the Instagram user who shared the video but did not immediately receive a response. The TikTok user who shared the video could not be reached.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No, this video does not show Hurricane Helene damage | Fact check

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