Old video of rogue wave falsely shared as 'tsunami hitting California in January 2025'

Published on January 21, 2025 at 07:49
3 min read
By Ara Eugenio, AFP Philippines

Deadly wildfires continued to ravage parts of southern California in January 2025 but there were no official reports the US state was also recently hit by a tsunami, contrary to rumours repeatedly shared on social media. The false posts misused footage from December 2023 that showed a rogue wave in California's Ventura county, according to the Facebook user who originally took it.

"A small tsunami in California, and the fire hasn't even subsided yet," reads Tagalog-language text overlaid on a Facebook reel that has garnered over 6.1 million views since it was posted on January 13, 2025.

The clip shows a massive wave surging over a seawall and into the streets, knocking several bystanders off their feet and sending others scurrying for safety at an unspecified location in California.

"Fire..earthquake..then," said the video's caption.

Screenshot of the false post taken on January 16, 2025

Around 40,000 acres (16,000 hectares) of land have been burned in the deadly blazes that ripped through Los Angeles, destroying thousands of buildings and forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes (archived link).

The video circulated on Facebook alongside a similar claim here, here and here, with comments suggesting many users believed the claim.

"Oh my god! Save the people of California!" said one comment.

Another said: "Repent now for the people of that Godless town."

But as of January 21, records from the National Weather Service show that California's most recent tsunami warning -- triggered by a shallow 7.0-magnitude earthquake -- was issued on December 5, 2024, more than a month before the deadly Los Angeles blazes (archived links here and here).

Old video

Reverse image searches on Google found the video was first uploaded on December 28, 2023 by Facebook user Colin Hoag in a post about massive waves that struck a seawall in Pierpont Bay, Ventura, California (archived link).

The video's caption read: "I was able to capture this entire event on video this morning at the Seaward wall in Pierpont."

The clip surfaced after a huge wave overtopped a sea wall in Ventura city, injuring eight people and inundating the nearby Inn on the Beach boutique hotel with two feet of water (archived link).

AFP previously debunked posts falsely linking the clip to a quake that struck Japan on January 1, 2024.

Andy VanSciver, the Ventura County Fire Department's public information officer, told AFP at the time that Hoag's video shows the incident.

The footage also matches Google Street View imagery of a seawall next to a beach hotel in Ventura (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the footage uploaded by Hoag (right):

Screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the footage uploaded by Hoag (right)

AFP has debunked other misinformation related to the California wildfires here.

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