Video compilation does not show Hurricane Melissa hitting Jamaica
- Published on October 30, 2025 at 17:40
- 7 min read
- By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA
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A video viewed millions of times on TikTok claims to show a montage of extreme weather in Jamaica as Hurricane Melissa bore down on the Caribbean island nation. But reverse image searches revealed the clips in the compilation were in fact recorded during previous storms in Italy, Mexico and the United States.
"Hurricane Melissa Category 5 hits Jamaica with 160 mph winds right now. October 26, 2025," says text over the video tagged to Kingston, Jamaica.
The TikTok compilation raked in more than 3.6 million views in the days before Melissa battered Jamaica, tying the 1935 record for the most intense storm ever to make landfall, according to data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Different posts claiming the footage depicted the storm's impact spread on other platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Threads.
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared the island a "disaster area" and authorities warned residents of continued flooding and the risk of landslides.
But the scenes in the widespread TikTok video are not from Jamaica.
At least seven of the compilation's eight clips were filmed in other countries during previous storms, AFP determined using a combination of reverse image searches, keyword searches and geolocation. AFP could not verify the origin of one remaining shot.
Melissa did not make landfall in Jamaica until October 28 -- two days after the TikTok video claimed to show it pummeling the country "right now." On October 26, the monster hurricane was about 120 miles (around 190 kilometers) southeast of Kingston.
Italy, 2018
The opening scene in the compilation shows massive waves surging over a harbor's safety walls and sweeping away containers.
Reverse image searches surfaced the same footage distributed by Getty Images, which credited it to the video-licensing channel Licet Studios and videographer Juan Possidente (archived here). Possidente posted it to his YouTube channel in March 2018 (archived here).
Those sources, as well as Italian media outlets that covered the event, indicated that it showed tsunami-like waves hitting a port in Maratea, Italy (archived here).
AFP matched the seawall, harbor and nearby buildings to those seen in Google Maps photos from the area, confirming the location (archived here and here).
Mexico, June 2025
The second clip in the montage, showing heavy winds wrestling trees above two red vehicles, has circulated online since at least June 2025, when a Mexican internet-service provider who posts on TikTok shared it (archived here).
@wifi_inovared_internet huracán erick ometepec
♬ original sound - dylansmovin
The caption says the footage shows Ometepec during Hurricane Erick, which swept through southern Mexico. The same user also posted two other videos showing photos of damages seen on the job from the storm (archived here and here).
Mexico, May 2025
Another shot in the mash-up, which shows a large palm tree collapsing onto a line of street-parked cars during heavy rains, was also lifted from footage taken in Mexico.
A news outlet covering Veracruz, Mexico posted the video to Facebook in May 2025, writing that the incident took place on the campus of the Universidad Tecnológica del Centro de Veracruz in the municipality of Cuitláhuac (archived here). The post said students at the school filmed the incident.
Google Street View and Google Earth satellite images show a road on the university's campus that appears to match the location, with similar street parking spots, lamp posts, palm trees and bushes (archived here and here).
Oklahoma, June 2025
The next scene shows violent winds blowing branches across a yard, but it is also misrepresented -- and was flipped horizontally.
Mike Morgan, chief meteorologist for Oklahoma's News 4, posted the original footage to Facebook in June 2025 (archived here).
"One of the MOST DAMAGING storms of 2025 so far RIGHT HERE for central Oklahoma folks," he wrote. "Not an actual tornado warning but a strong mesocyclone with 80-90MPH winds."
Morgan credited a woman in the state's Garvin County with providing the footage. In a comment, that woman said it had come from a couple who captured it from their porch.
Reached via Facebook Messenger on October 27, one of the spouses told AFP they filmed the video in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma.
Florida, 2018
The following clip in the compilation is an inverted version of a moment captured by storm chaser Dan Robinson during Hurricane Michael in October 2018.
Robinson, who included the shot as part of a video posted on YouTube, wrote in the video's caption that it was recorded as the storm roared through Panama City, Florida (archived here).
AFP geolocated the parking lot meter shown to a garage for the First Baptist Church of Panama City (archived here).
Italy, 2024
Another windstorm video in the mash-up was lifted from a Facebook post shared in August 2024, by a user based in Italy (archived here).
The poster wrote in his caption that the footage showed the city of Moncalieri, adding that it had been picked up by several Italian news outlets (archived here).
Italy, June 2025
The final shot in the compilation, of cars driving through floodwaters, comes from a video originally posted in June 2025 by another Italian Facebook user based in Palermo, the capital of the island of Sicily (archived here).
Based in part on a bank sign in the frame, AFP geolocated the clip to a main road in Palermo (archived here).
AFP has debunked other misinformation about Hurricane Melissa here.
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