Russia, Poland and Norway footage shared as if it shows Hurricane Helene impact

The claims

Users on TikTok and X (previously Twitter) posted compilations of footage claiming it showed the impact of Hurricane Helene, which caused widespread destruction as it neared the Florida coast before making landfall on September 26.

Several videos misrepresenting old footage as new are being shared online. In addition to the ones we've already fact-checked, two more videos, one circulating on X and another on TikTok, also claim to show scenes caused by Hurricane Helene. 

These posts have attracted significant attention, with the video on X receiving more than 54,000 views and the one on TikTok reaching 1.5 million views.

However, they are incorrectly attributed. One of the full videos and individual segments in both compilations began circulating well before Helene formed.

The X video

The first video, shared on X, comprises seven short clips, none recorded during Helene. The full video was previously shared on TikTok as early as December 2, 2023, accompanied by a caption linking the events to the dangers of the North Sea. 

By using reverse image search, closely examining specific details within certain scenes, such as the firearm on the front deck of a navy ship, and reviewing older media reports on incidents involving cargo ships in recent years, we discovered the included clips are much older.

The fourth scene, shared by the Royal New Zealand Navy on Facebook in 2018, shows the Navy vessel Otago navigating a storm. The footage in the viral clip appears to have been mirrored from the original, as the white symbol on the deck of the vessel appears on the left-hand side of the original clip but on the right-hand side of the viral clip. 

The X clip and the Facebook post. (Source: X/Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts).

The sixth clip features a Dutch-flagged heavy-lift cargo ship in Norway in 2021 calling for help after the cargo shifted in a storm. We traced the clip to this video published by the main maritime rescue center in southern Norway by comparing the cargo and the markings on the ship's side.

The X clip and an article on the incident (Source: X/Lora News).

We could not determine the exact source or location of the other five clips due to their consistent reuse in numerous compilation videos across multiple social media platforms, including TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook. However, we can confirm that they were created before Helene, as all the clips appear in compilation videos published well before Helene formed. 

We found evidence of the first clip circulating as early as March 2022, and it has since appeared in numerous compilations referencing weather events and hazards in the North Sea, but we cannot confirm that it occurred there. 

The second clip was included in a compilation in December 2023 and likely circulated even earlier. The third clip has circulated since at least 2022; the fifth clip dates back to at least March 2023; the seventh clip is also from 2022 or earlier.

The TikTok compilation

The second video compilation, shared on TikTok after Helene made landfall, contains nine previously circulated clips. 

The first segment shows the storm that impacted Russian regions along the Black Sea coast on November 26, 2023, resulting in four fatalities and leaving approximately 500,000 residents without electricity. 

The second clip depicts winds from Hurricane Francine lifting a patio roof in Houma, Louisiana, in early September 2024. Storyful, a video agency that collects user-generated content for major news events, shared the original video. 

The third segment features a video of Hurricane Michael ripping the roof off a house in Florida in 2018. It appeared in local news coverage at the time. However, this video has been altered to include a tornado and uses computer-generated graphics, having appeared here over a year ago. 

The fourth segment shows waves crashing over a coastal structure. Geolocation analysis has confirmed that the event is not occurring in Florida but rather in Scituate, Massachusetts. On Google Maps, the structure with a distinctive roof, visible in the video, can be clearly identified. Furthermore, one of the background buildings aligns with what is seen in the footage.

The clip and the actual location (Source: X/Google Maps/Modified by Logically Facts).

The fifth segment, according to stock footage appearing on Shutterstock, also originates from 2018 and takes place in Florida, again during Hurricane Michael.

The sixth segment shows flooding in the Polish town of Głuchołazy in September 2024. The video was first shared by the Polish media outlet Głuchołazy Online. 

The seventh segment depicts a location in Jacksonville, Florida, and this footage was available online prior to Hurricane Helene. A 2018 video from Fox San Antonio features the same scene and confirms it was from Hurricane Michael. Additionally, an altered version that includes a tornado was posted as early as 2021.

Through geolocation analysis of the buildings in the video, we determined that the eighth segment shows flooding in the Czech Republic in September 2024. While the building appears entirely pink in the included clip, it is depicted as partially yellow on Google Street View, likely indicating that it has been repainted. Despite this colour difference, we can assert that this is the correct location, as the accuracy is further supported by comparing the adjacent houses with another frame from the video that depicts the opposite side of the street.

The clip and the location (Source: TikTok/Google Maps/Modified by Logically Facts)

We were unable to determine the origin of the ninth segment.

The verdict

The analyzed video compilations do not show footage from Florida during the recent Hurricane Helene. Instead, the clips were created during other natural disasters, some occurring in the United States and others abroad.