Hurricane Melissa grew to a Category 5 hurricane Oct. 27 as it neared Jamaica, but videos that social media users claim show the storm making landfall are deceiving — it wasn’t on shore yet when the videos were posted.
An Oct. 26 TikTok video shows footage of intense flooding, wind and property damage, and, occasionally, people screaming in English in the background.
“Hurricane Melissa Category 5 hits Jamaica with 160 mph winds right now,” says[1] text on the video, which had 1.8 million views as of the afternoon of Oct. 27.
Other users on TikTok[2] and Threads[3] also shared the video.
The Associated Press reported[4] that Melissa could be the strongest hurricane Jamaica has experienced in decades. One advisory[5] said the hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 160 miles per hour, as the TikTok says, but the footage in the post was taken from previous disaster events.
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Video shows 2018 storm in Maratea, Italy
(Screengrab from TikTok post.)
The first clip shows high waves topping a safety wall and moving inland, but this footage isn’t from Jamaica. When doing a reverse image search, PolitiFact found the video is from a 2018 storm in the small town of Maratea, Italy. We found a newscast[6] and a report[7] about the storm from the Italian news outlet Potenza News24 City. Getty Images also published[8] the same footage in 2018 about Maratea.
Video showing red vehicles isn’t from Jamaica
(Screengrab from TikTok post.)
The second clip in the TikTok that shows strong winds and two red vehicles also isn’t from Jamaica. The footage appeared in another misleading video[9] shared in August and supposedly from Cheyenne, Wyoming. However, the earliest version of the clip online is from a June 21 TikTok post[10] that says it was from Hurricane Erick[11] in Ometepec, Mexico.
Video shows storm in Veracruz, Mexico
(Screengrab from TikTok post.)
The clip where a palm tree falls on a gray SUV wasn’t in Jamaica either. PolitiFact found the same video shared on Facebook[12] in May with a Spanish subtitle saying it was because of a storm in the Universidad Tecnológica del Centro de Veracruz in Veracruz, Mexico. A TikTok user[13] also shared the footage in May, saying it was in the same Veracruz university in Mexico.
Video shows a storm in Oklahoma
(Screengrab from TikTok post.)
The footage that shows high winds and an SUV getting hit by leaves was originally shared June 5 on Facebook[14] by Mike Morgan, Oklahoma’s News 4’s (KFOR-TV) chief meteorologist[15]. Morgan said this was a “weaker tornado” that hit Garvin County.
Videos shows footage of 2018 Hurricane Michael
(Screengrab from TikTok post.)
The clip of strong winds and rain blowing through what looks like the entrance to a parking garage is from 2018. Dan Robinson, a storm chaser[16], filmed[17] the clip during Hurricane Michael in Panama City, Florida.
Video shows storm in Moncalieri, Italy
(Screengrab from TikTok post.)
The video that shows high winds hitting a street and a white SUV parked under a roof dates back to an August 2024 Facebook post[18]. The caption says in Italian that it is from a storm in Moncalieri, Italy, according to Google Translate.
Video shows flooded streets in Palermo, Italy
(Screengrab from TikTok post.)
The last clip of cars driving through flooded streets also isn’t from Jamaica. One of the cars has a European Union license plate, and a reverse image search found the footage is from flooded streets in the city of Palermo, Italy, after heavy rains in June. An Italian news report shows the same video[19].
We rate the claim that this video shows Hurricane Melissa hitting Jamaica on Oct. 26 False.
References
- ^ says (archive.ph)
- ^ TikTok (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ Threads (www.threads.com)
- ^ reported (apnews.com)
- ^ One advisory (www.nhc.noaa.gov)
- ^ newscast (www.youtube.com)
- ^ report (potenza.news24.city)
- ^ published (www.gettyimages.com)
- ^ misleading video (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ TikTok post (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ Hurricane Erick (www.cnn.com)
- ^ Facebook (www.facebook.com)
- ^ TikTok user (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ Facebook (www.facebook.com)
- ^ News 4’s (KFOR-TV) chief meteorologist (kfor.com)
- ^ storm chaser (stormhighway.com)
- ^ filmed (www.youtube.com)
- ^ Facebook post (www.facebook.com)
- ^ shows the same video (www.meteoweb.eu)