Old video misused in false 'Sri Lanka tornado' posts

Published on December 20, 2024 at 09:09
3 min read
By Harshana SILVA, AFP Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka's disaster agency told AFP no tornado was recorded in November 2024, contrary to claims that surfaced on social media as deadly rains battered the island nation. A clip of a waterspout shared in the false posts dates back to news reports from October 2022.

"Another threat to Sri Lanka, impact of a Tornado," read a Sinhala-language Facebook post shared on November 29, 2024.

It included a video which shows water mist and air swirling upwards from a body of water. A boat docked near the shore could also be seen.

"Tornado first time in Sri Lanka," read text superimposed at the top of the clip.

Screenshot of the false post taken December 20, 2025

Similar claims were shared alongside the same video on Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.

The posts surfaced after torrential rains on the last week of November killed at least 12 people, including six children who drowned (archived link).

More than 335,000 people in the island nation were forced to flee after their homes were flooded, Colombo's Disaster Management Centre said.

False tornado claims

But Pradeep Kodippili, media spokesperson of the Sri Lanka's disaster management agency told AFP on on December 16, 2024: "No tornado had been reported in November 2024" (archived link).

Malith Fernando from Sri Lanka's Department of Meteorology separately refuted the claim in the posts that the video shows Sri Lanka's first ever tornado.

"This (phenomenon) happens for thousands of years. This means tornados, downdrafts, and waterspouts could have happened in the same place," he said.

Moreover, a reverse image search of the video's keyframes on Google found it earlier shared in an article published by local news outlet Sri Lanka Mirror on October 30, 2022 (archived link).

The report said a large waterspout had appeared in the sea off Point Pedro, a town in Sri Lanka's northern Jaffna district.

According to the US National Ocean Service, a waterspout is a tornado that forms over water, or moves from land to water (archived link).

The article quoted a Facebook post which uploaded the clip falsely shared as recent (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and the clip published by Sri Lanka Mirror (right):

Screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and the video published by Sri Lanka Mirror (right)

Local news organisation News 1st published the same video -- alongside other clips which showed the waterspout from another angle -- on its official Facebook and YouTube accounts on October 30, 2022 (archived links here and here).

Another local news outlet, Daily Mirror, published a similar video of the waterspout on October 30, 2022 in its official Facebook account (archived link).

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