Video shows hailstorm in China's Jiangxi province, not Hong Kong

This article is more than one year old.
Published on April 4, 2023 at 09:05
3 min read
By AFP Hong Kong

A video of what appears to be a hailstorm near a river has been viewed tens of thousands of times in social media posts that falsely claim it was filmed in Hong Kong. The posts shared the video on March 25, 2023 -- shortly after Hong Kong's weather forecaster issued a rare warning that hail could affect the city. But the video had in fact circulated a few days earlier in posts and reports about inclement weather in Jiangxi, a province in southeast China about 600 kilometres (373 miles) north of Hong Kong.

The video, which has been viewed more than 7,000 times, was shared on YouTube here on March 25.

Its traditional Chinese caption reads, "Hail in Hong Kong ｜ The Observatory issued an amber rainstorm warning signal Hong Kong may be affected by hail in the short term 4 hours ago".

The "amber rainstorm warning" is the lowest of three heavy rain signals issued by the local weather forecaster, the Hong Kong Observatory.

The video's description reads in part: "On the Shing Mun River in Sha Tin, there was a significant hailstorm, as seen in some online users' videos."

A screenshot of the misleading post, captured on March 29, 2023

The video circulated online shortly after the local weather forecaster issued a hail warning on March 25.

The video was also shared alongside a similar claim elsewhere on YouTube here, where it was viewed more than 18,000 times, and on Facebook here by local news organisation Ta Kung Pao.

A still from the video was used in a similarly misleading Facebook post here.

But a spokesperson for the Hong Kong Observatory told AFP on April 4 that it had only received one report of hail near the residential district of Sai Wan Ho on Hong Kong island during the afternoon of March 25, 2023.

Sai Wan Ho is about 11 kilometres (6.8 miles) south of Sha Tin, where the false posts claimed the footage was filmed.

The video was in fact filmed a few days earlier in southeast China.

The claim has previously been debunked by Hong Kong fact-checker Kauyim.

Jiangxi hailstorm

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the video found a similar clip published by a Chinese news organisation on Douyin here on March 22.

The video is titled: "Strong wind + heavy rain + hail! On March 22, the extremely heavy hail struck #Jiangxi Ganzhou County, Ningdu County, Shicheng County, and other locations; cars were smashed. Reminder: Please pay attention when travelling!"

Jiangxi is a province in southeast China, while Ganzhou, Ningdu and Shicheng counties are located in the southern and southeastern parts of the province.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the video in the news report (right):

A screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading post (left) and the video in the news report (right)

The clip was also included in a March 23 news report by Hong Kong broadcaster TVB here, between the 12-second and 18-second mark.

TVB reported that buildings were damaged and some people were injured after a storm struck Jiangxi on March 21.

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