Footage of rainstorm hitting China hotel was not filmed during Typhoon Yagi

"Typhoon Yagi is ravaging Hainan Island," read a traditional Chinese X post shared on September 8, 2024.

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A screenshot of the false post on X.

The post -- viewed more than 1.3 million times -- surfaced after super Typhoon Yagi made landfall on the southern Chinese island of Hainan on September 6. It then swept through northern Vietnam, killing at least 127 people (archived link).

The typhoon -- the most powerful to hit northern Vietnam in 30 years according to meteorologists -- downed bridges, tore roofs off buildings, damaged factories and triggered widespread flooding and landslides.

The video has also been shared thousands of times alongside the false claim it shows Yagi slamming Vietnam in posts written in English, French, Spanish, Thai, and Portuguese.

However, the video predates the storm by several weeks.

Shenzhen rainstorm

A reverse image search of keyframes, followed by keyword searches found the video uploaded on August 7, 2024 on the Chinese video-sharing platform Bilibili (archived link).

Its caption read: "Reported on August 7, nine hotel staff in Shenzhen work together to guard the lobby doors during a sudden rainstorm."

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video falsely shared online (left) and the one published on Bilibili (right):

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Screenshot comparison of the images used in the false X posts (left) and the video published on Bilibili (right)

The video was also shared by other Chinese media outlets in August 2024 (archived links here and here).

At the video's 10-second mark, a red banner is visible with Chinese characters that reads, "Longcheng police station", referring to a residential area in the city of Shenzhen. 

It also includes a telephone number for the local public security bureau (archived link).

AFP found the footage was filmed inside Shenzhen's Kailong International Hotel.

An image uploaded on the tourism website ctrip.com shows the same layout of the hotel's lobby (archived links here and here).

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A screenshot comparison of the footage (left) and a user's photo of the hotel on Ctrip (right)

According to Shenzhen's meteorological bureau, the city issued yellow alerts for rainstorms on August 5 and 6 for several districts including Longcheng, a subdistrict of Longhua (archived links here and here).

Local media in China's Guangdong province also reported that many of Shenzhen's districts were hit by violent storms on August 6 (archived link).

Southern China is frequently hit by seasonal typhoons that form in the warm oceans east of the Philippines and then travel west (archived link).

Climate change has made tropical storms more unpredictable and increased their intensity, leading to heavy rains and violent gusts that cause flash floods and coastal damage, experts say.