This video has circulated since at least May 2019 in reports about Cyclone Fani lashing India
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on May 22, 2020 at 10:35
- 2 min read
- By AFP India
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The 15-second video was published here on Facebook on May 20, 2020.
It has been viewed more than 272,000 times.
The video caption states: “Cyclone "Amphan" at Digha, West Bengal.”
Digha is a coastal town in the east Indian state of West Bengal.
Cyclone Amphan made landfall in West Bengal on 20 May, 2020, killing at least 72 in the state and causing much structural damage.
The video was also shared here, here, here and here on Facebook, and here and here on Twitter, alongside a similar claim.
The claim is false.
A reverse image search of keyframes extracted from the video in the misleading post using InVID-WeVerify, a digital verification tool, found the same clip published in this May 3, 2019 report by the Indian newspaper The Economic Times.
The video description reads, in part: “Cyclone Fani barrelled through Odisha Friday, unleashing copious rain and windstorm that gusted up to 175 kmph, killing at least eight people, blowing away thatched houses, and swamping towns and villages, officials said.
“The extremely severe cyclonic storm 'Fani' or the 'Hood of Snake' made landfall around 8 am in Puri, with roaring winds flattening huts, enveloping the pilgrim town in sheets of rain, and submerging homes.”
The same video was also published on The Economic Times’ official YouTube channel here on May 3, 2019.
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