Incorrect images of storm passed as Florida’s Hurricane Milton – Australian Associated Press

AAP FACT CHECK: A viral video claims to show the devastating impact of Hurricane Milton in Florida, including collapsing homes, falling trees and a giant inflatable duck being blown across a street.

This is false. The images are not related to Hurricane Milton. Many of the clips have previously been posted online and attributed to storms in other states or countries.

The video was posted to Facebook on Oct. 9 (FET), the same day the hurricane made landfall in the state. At the time of writing, the footage had amassed nearly 1.5 million views.

The same video has also appeared on other social media channels including TikTok, Instagram, X and YouTube.

It includes 18 clips of what it says is damage from the recent hurricane. Overlay text reads: “Hurricane Milton just makes landfall (sic) in Florida with 185 mph winds as a Category 5.”

The U.S. National Weather Service says hurricanes that make landfall at the Category Five level can cause “catastrophic damage” to homes, trees and power poles.

Hurricane Milton was classified as a Category Five offshore hurricane, but weakened to a Category Three when it hit Florida on October 9.

CBS News reports that at least 24 people died in the storm that left a repair bill that experts say could top $50 billion.

However, the damage visible in the Facebook video was not caused by Hurricane Milton.

The first scene of the video is a stone being blown by the wind. AAP data verification Found footage of the rock was posted on YouTube on October 4, 2024 and attributed to storms in Acapulco, Mexico (35 seconds).

Other clips in the video are similarly reused from footage recorded before Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida.

One section (11 seconds) shows a giant inflatable bear falling down a street. The bear has the word ‘FORUM’ in large letters on its back.

Media reports on the incident show that the bear was swept out of the Plaza Forum mall in Cuernavaca, Mexico on May 19, 2024.

A clip of debris blowing through the air outside a restaurant (16 seconds) was filmed during a May 2022 tornado in Gaylord, Michigan.

Images previously posted on Facebook on May 21, 2022.

AAP data verification has verified the location where the clip was shot as Main Street, Gaylord, as seen on Google Street View.

In May 2024, according to a Facebook post dated June 5, 2024, content agency Storyful recorded footage of a roof being blown from a gas station yard (21 seconds) in Mountain View, Missouri.

A clip of a tree falling in the wind (29 seconds) was previously posted on TikTok in July 2024 with a caption explaining that it was filmed in the Mexican city of Guadalajara.

A clip of a flooded staircase (36 seconds) was previously posted on TikTok in June 2024, which was said to show flooding in the German city of Rudersberg.

The frame of a wooden house collapsing (41 seconds) seen in the video can be traced back to an incident in Houston, Texas, reported by Fox Weather on May 21, 2024.

The footage of a large inflatable duck being blown across a road (48 seconds) that the video suggests was Florida on October 9 was actually filmed in the town of Frankenmuth, Michigan in May 2024.

Near the end of the video, a blue portaloo is seen being pushed by the wind (1 minute). The same footage was posted on TikTok in August 2024, with the location tagged as Fort Myers, Florida.

while AAP data verification He was unable to verify the origins of the 18 clips used in the video in question, most of which are not associated with Hurricane Milton.

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