Clip shows gusts in southern Philippines weeks before Super Typhoon Man-yi

"Typhoon Pepito, keep safe everyone," reads Tagalog-language text superimposed on a Facebook reel shared on November 17, using the local name for Super Typhoon Man-yi. 

The video -- which attracted 1.9 million views -- shows violent winds knocking down trees and posts before panning to visibly shaken onlookers watching from inside their house. 

Man-yi uprooted trees, brought down power lines and smashed flimsy houses to pieces after making landfall on the Philippines' Catanduanes island on November 16 (archived link). 

It was the sixth major storm in a month to batter the Philippines; the storms have left at least 171 people dead and thousands homeless, and wiped out crops and livestock. 

Image

Screenshot of the false Facebook post, taken November 23, 2024

The video racked up more than 55,000 additional views in similar Facebook posts here, here and here.

But the footage surfaced online weeks before Super Typhoon Man-yi hit the Philippines. 

Through a mix of keyword and reverse image searches, AFP found a longer version of the video uploaded on Facebook on October 25 (archived link). 

Below is a screenshot comparison of the false video (left) and the October 25 video (right): 

Image

Screenshot comparison of the false video (left) and the October 25 video (right)

Shared by Facebook user Jessa Alejandro, the video also shows clips of uprooted trees and felled posts. 

"First time ever in Logpond," read its title, referring to a town in the southern Philippine province of Zamboanga Sibugay. 

Alejandro told AFP she filmed the video on October 25.

"I didn't expect it. The weather was fine at first, then it became very extreme. It was the first time to happen in our area," she said on November 25. 

"But what other people on TikTok and Facebook are claiming about my video is not true."

Tropical Storm Trami brought widespread devastation in northern Philippines on October 24, and the national weather service also warned the storm would bring strong gusts over Zamboanga on October 25 (archived links here and here).

About 20 big storms and typhoons hit the Southeast Asian nation or its surrounding waters each year, killing scores of people, but it is rare for multiple such weather events to take place in a small window (archived link). 

Philippine fact-checking organisation VERA Files also debunked the false video (archived link).

AFP has previously fact-checked posts falsely portraying impact from disasters here, here and here.