Old clip of heavy clouds falsely shared as Typhoon Ragasa

"Super Typhoon Ragasa is approaching!" reads an X post written in simplified Chinese, and shared September 23, 2025.

It shares footage of clouds looming over buildings along a river, and has been viewed more than 11,000 times.

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Screenshot of the false X post captured September 26, 2025, with a red cross mark added by AFP

Similar posts surfaced on Threads, Bilibili, Weibo and TikTok as Ragasa churned into Guangdong, home to tens of millions of people, with winds up to 145 kilometres (90 miles) per hour (archived link).

It also swept past finance hub Hong Kong, and Taiwan where 14 people were killed and dozens injured when a decades-old barrier lake burst in eastern Hualien county, according to regional officials.

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Infographic map showing the forecast track of Super Typhoon Ragasa, wind warning data along its path, as it lashed South China on September 24. (AFP / John SAEKI)

However, the clip is old and was actually filmed in Fujian province, located around 800 kilometres (490 miles) away from where Ragasa made landfall.

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes led to the same video posted on Threads on June 27, 2025 (archived link). It bore a RedNote watermark and user ID.

A keyword search on RedNote using the ID led to the original time-lapse video, where the user said in a comment it was filmed in Fujian (archived link).

The simplified Chinese caption reads, "I captured the movement of the rain, giving a sense of being overwhelmed".

An "original work" label has been applied to the video -- a mark that indicates RedNote had verified content ownership (archived link).

The same user posted a longer version of the clip in its original speed, as well as other videos filmed in Fujian's Shaowu city (archive here and here).

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Screenshot comparison of the false X post (L) and the original RedNote video

AFP was able to confirm the location of the video by comparing an arrow shaped-sign on a bookstore visible at the 20-second mark, as well as the surrounding buildings, with Baidu Maps imagery of an area along the Futuan river in Shaowu city in Fujian (archived link).

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Screenshot comparison of zoomed in frames from the video (L) and images from Baidu Maps, with matching visuals highlighted by AFP

AFP has also debunked another falsely shared clip of Typhoon Ragasa.