Old horse rescue video from Brazil falsely linked to Hurricane Helene

What's the claim?

A video showing the rescue of a horse from a rooftop is being shared as footage from Hurricane Helene. 

Helene made landfall in Florida on September 26, with winds reaching 140 mph. The storm has claimed at least 227 lives, with many still missing, and caused widespread destruction across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee, washing away roads, buildings, homes, and vehicles.

A 52-second video showing a horse stranded on a rooftop amid flooding has been shared on social media. The horse is standing on what looks like tarp or roofing material. The surrounding water indicates extensive flooding in the area. 

Later in the video, rescuers are seen with the horse on the roof, eventually lifting it onto an inflatable raft.

On X (formerly Twitter), the video was shared with captions such as: "Rescue during Hurricane Helene" and "A horse stranded on a rooftop, rescued after two days. #Hurricane #Helene #Horses #Rescue #Appalachians." Archives of such posts are here, here, and here.

Screenshots of X posts. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

What did we find?

A reverse image search showed the same clip was uploaded by NBC News (archived here) on its YouTube channel in May 2024 with the title "Horse stranded in Brazilian floods rescued from a tin roof." The viral segment can be seen in the first 47 seconds of the video. According to the text in the video, the horse was trapped on a tin roof for more than 24 hours due to flooding in southern Brazil.

The Associated Press reported that the horse, nicknamed Caramelo by social media users, garnered national attention after a television news helicopter captured footage of him stranded on the rooftop in southern Brazil. The report further stated that firefighters and veterinarians climbed onto the roof to sedate and immobilize the horse before transferring him onto a raft. The rescue operation involved four inflatable boats and four support vessels supported by firefighters, soldiers, and volunteers. 

Folha de S. Paulo, a Brazilian news outlet, published images of the horse rescue featured in the viral video. The outlet reported that the horse was rescued on the morning of May 9. The Washington Post and CNN also covered this incident, carrying images resembling the viral video.

Screenshot of the Folha de S. Paulo report. (Source: Folha de S. Paulo)

Since the video was online in May 2024, it cannot be associated with Hurricane Helene. This hurricane formed in September 2024, well after the video was released. 

The verdict

This video from May 2024 shows a horse being rescued in Canoas, Brazil, in a separate flooding incident that occurred months before Hurricane Helene formed.