Old Clips From Mumbai, Saudi Arabia Passed Off as Cyclone Tauktae

Out of the three videos, one is from Mumbai and the other video is from Saudi Arabia’s Medina.

Old and unrelated visuals were circulated to falsely claim that they show heavy rainfall in Mumbai and Gujarat during cyclone Tauktae.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Amid the ongoing cyclone ‘Tauktae’, several old videos are being circulated on social media to claim that they show the current situation at Mumbai and Gujarat ports.

However, we found that two videos are from 2020 and the third one could be traced back to 2017. Out of the three videos, we could trace the origin of two of them. While one is from Mumbai, the other one is from Saudi Arabia’s Medina.

On Monday, 17 May, Cyclone Tauktae intensified into an “extremely severe” cyclonic storm and was likely to reach the coast of Gujarat on Monday evening, the India Meteorological Department said. At least 12 people have been reported dead so far from the states of Karnataka, Kerala, Goa, and Maharashtra.

Catch all the live updates on Cyclone Tauktae here.

CLAIM

A video showing heavy winds causing damage to vehicles is being shared with the claim that the incident took place outside Hotel Trident in Mumbai’s Nariman Point.

You can view the archived version here.(Source: Facebook/ Screenshot)

The video was widely shared on Facebook and Twitter with a similar claim and the archived version of the posts can be viewed here, here, and here.

(Source: Facebook/ Screenshot)

The Quint received a query on the claim being made in the video on its WhatsApp tipline as well.

Another video being circulated on WhatsApp, too, claimed that it showed the current situation in Mumbai.

(Source: WhatsApp/ Screenshot)

A video showing heavy tides was circulated to claim that it showed Cyclone Tauktae hitting a Gujarat port.

You can view the archived version here.(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)

WHAT WE FOUND

We found that all the three videos are old and not related to Cyclone Tauktae. Let’s take a look at them one by one.

VIDEO 1

(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)

We divided the video into multiple keyframes using InVid and reverse searched them on Google. It led us to an article published in March by An-Nahar, a daily newspaper published in Lebanon.

The article mentioned that the viral video was captured in July 2020 and the incident took place in Saudi Arabia.

On carefully looking at the viral visuals, we could see the date stamp which read ‘July 2020’.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

On 1 August 2020, Al Jazeera’s Arabic vertical published an article in which a part of the viral visuals can be seen and it mentioned that the incident took place in Saudi Arabia’s Medina when torrential rains caused damage in the area.

(Source: Website/ Screenshot)

VIDEO 2

(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)

We found that the same video was uploaded on the YouTube handle of ‘Metro City Samachar’ on 5 August 2020 and the location was mentioned as Marine lines, Mumbai.

Rahul Mathur, founder and CEO of BimaPe tweeted that the viral video was taken from his building and that it was not related to ongoing Cyclone Tauktae.

Speaking to The Quint’s WebQoof team, Mathur said that the video dates back to August 2020.

“It was shot from our building Shanti Kuteer and the building seen in the viral visual is Oceana, which is located at Nariman Point, Mumbai,” he added.

Here’s a top view available on Google Maps that shows the distance between the two buildings is 100 metres.

(Source: Google Maps/ Screenshot)

A Hindustan Times article published on 4 August 2020 mentioned that Mumbai had then already received 50 percent of its August average rainfall amid heavy downpour recorded between 1 August 2020 to 4 August 2020.

VIDEO 3

(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)

We came across a YouTube video uploaded in August 2017 that mentioned that the video is from Minicoy island in Lakshwadeep. While we haven’t been able to independently verify whether the location of the video, we know that it doesn’t show the current situation because of Cyclone Tauktae.

The Quint’s WebQoof team had earlier debunked the viral visuals that were being claimed to show Mumbai’s Bandra-Worli sea link.

CURRENT SITUATION NEAR NARIMAN POINT AMID CYCLONE TAUKTAE

The official handle of All India Radio’s Mumbai wing shared visuals of situation near Mumbai’s Hotel Trident as recorded on Monday, 17 May.

The tweet also claimed that no incident of any tree/structure falling on vehicles has been reported near the said location.

The Indian Express, too, shared visuals of the view from Mumbai’s Nariman Point as the city witnessed rainfall amid Cyclone Tauktae.

Evidently, old and unrelated visuals were circulated to falsely claim that they show heavy rainfall in Mumbai and Gujarat during Cyclone Tauktae.

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