Cyclone Biparjoy hit the coastal areas of Saurashtra and the Gulf of Kutch in Gujarat around 7 pm on Thursday, June 15, in the form of a very severe cyclonic storm causing extremely heavy rainfall, strong winds and tidal waves. Several videos claiming to be visuals of the cyclone’s landfall surfaced on social media over the next few hours.
Twitter user B N Adhikari — whose bio says he is the ex-director of DD News and a retired IIS (Indian Information Service) officer, shared a few videos claiming them to be related to Cyclone Biparjoy. His tweets went viral.
Video 1:
In the first video, one can see a cloudburst over a water body. Adhikari shared the video on June 15 night when the cyclone’s effect on land was at its peak, with the following caption: “The visuals of #BiparjoyCyclone making a splash #LANDFALL in a port area, Kutch, Gujarat. #BiparjoyUpdate #BiparjoyNews #Gujaratcyclone”. The tweet has received over 4 lakh views and has been retweeted over 300 times. (Archive)
The visuals of #BiparjoyCyclone making a splash #LANDFALL in a port area, Kutch, Gujarat#BiparjoyUpdate #BiparjoyNews #Gujaratcyclone pic.twitter.com/8LJuvccgUB
— BN Adhikari, IIS(Rtd) (@AdhikariBN) June 15, 2023
Fact Check
Alt News had fact-checked this same video in 2020 when Cyclone Nivar hit Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Several users back then shared this video as visuals of the cyclonic storm Nivar.
Originally, the video has been created by a YouTuber called Alexandru Dineci using CGI. He shared the video on his Instagram page in June 2019 using hashtags such as — #cgi #digitalart #tornado.
View this post on Instagram
Therefore, the video showing a cloudburst over a water body is computer generated. It is not related to Cyclone Biparjoy.
Video 2:
Another video shows a boat capsize in high tidal waves. It was shared by Adhikari and others as a scene from the Arabian Sea while cyclone Biparjoy hit Gujarat. Adhikari’s tweet received over 1 lakh views. (Archive)
Monstrous sea waves capsized a trawler in Arabian sea as #BiparjoyCyclone hits Coastal Gujarat near Kutch region.
Ever vigilant Indian Coast Guard rescuing the seafarers from the ill fated trawler.#BiparjoyUpdate #BiparjoyNews #Gujaratcyclone pic.twitter.com/uAlHgUQytM
— BN Adhikari, IIS(Rtd) (@AdhikariBN) June 15, 2023
Fact Check
After breaking down the video into several key-frames and running a reverse image search on a few of them, we came across a Youtube video by The Associated Press from Feb 2023. The video titled “Huge wave capsizes boat as rookie U.S. Coast Guard swimmer rescues man from ocean” comprised the viral clip.
The video report mentioned that the person in the boat was rescued by a US Coast Guard rookie swimmer. The incident occurred in the waters of the Columbia River, between Washington and Oregon, where the Coast Guard received a mayday call while training.
A relevant keyword search led us to more YouTube videos by several international news outlets that have covered this incident.
Therefore, the video of a boat being capsized is not from the Arabian Sea and is not related to Cyclone Biparjoy. It is an old video from the US.
Video 3:
Another video shared by the retired IIS showed a compilation of three clips. The user shared the video with the caption: “Fresh visuals of #BiparjoyCyclone hitting Kutch coastal areas of Gujarat with a wind velocity of approximately 145 kmph during #LANDFALL #Gujaratcyclone #BiparjoyUpdate #BiparjoyNews”. (Archive)
Fresh visuals of #BiparjoyCyclone hitting Kutch coastal areas of Gujarat with a wind velocity of approximately 145 kmph during #LANDFALL#Gujaratcyclone #BiparjoyUpdate #BiparjoyNews pic.twitter.com/IbshQG4LYW
— BN Adhikari, IIS(Rtd) (@AdhikariBN) June 15, 2023
Fact Check
On running a reverse image search on some of the keyframes of the first clip we found that the video on YouTube that was posted three years ago by a user called Van Sly. We also came across a report by WDRB.com from June 27, 2019, which said that the video had been shot by Samantha Martinez in Monte Alto, Texas. It also carried the YouTube video.
Therefore, it is clear that this video is not from Kutch but from Texas and it is an old video.
We could not verify the other two clips in the video.
Video 4:
The fourth video shared by B N Adhikari shows dark clouds gathering over a sea beach. The user tweeted the video with the caption, “This is the ground situation just before the #Landfall of #CycloneBiporjoy in Saurashtra, Kutch in coastal Gujarat.” (Archive)
This is the ground situation just before the #Landfall of #CycloneBiporjoy in Saurashtra, Kutch in coastal Gujarat. pic.twitter.com/pZ5sK6arjm
— BN Adhikari, IIS(Rtd) (@AdhikariBN) June 15, 2023
Fact Check
We broke down the video into several keyframes and ran a reverse image search on them which led us to a Facebook post by MeteoMex, a media channel that issues forecasts about natural events in Mexico. The post, which was made on September 2021, carried the clip posted by Adhikari relating the video to Cyclone Biparjoy. The title of the video post can be translated from Spanish as: “Cloud cover in Baja California Sur due to Hurricane Olaf”.
Ingreso de nubosidad en Baja California Sur debido al huracán Olaf
⚠Esta tarde en #BajaCaliforniaSur, comienza a observarse el ingreso de la extensa nubosidad del huracán #Olaf sobre dicha región, favoreciendo lluvias dispersas.
Cabe destacar que durante esta noche y madrugada se pronostican los efectos más fuertes del huracán debido al probable ingreso en tierra sobre #CaboSanLucas.
Más información será emitido en las próximas horas, por lo que se recomienda a la población estar atento a las actualizaciones.
Posted by MeteoMex on Thursday, 9 September 2021
We also came across a fact-check report by the Pakistani fact-checking organisation Soch when the same video was viral in Pakistan with the claim that the visuals in the video are from Karachi. Soch’s report also inferred that the visuals are from Mexico when Hurricane Olaf hit Baja California Sur in 2021.
Therefore, the video showing a cloud cover over a beach is not from coastal areas of Gujarat, it is an old video from Mexico.
Video 5:
In this video, one can see a dust storm and people rushing to take shelter. The ex-DD News director shared the video with a caption that claimed that the video depicts the landfall process due to Cyclone Biparjoy in the coastal areas of Gujarat. (Archive)
The #Landfall process of #CycloneBiporjoy in Saurashtra, Kutch in coastal Gujarat. pic.twitter.com/agTv1o90BW
— BN Adhikari, IIS(Rtd) (@AdhikariBN) June 15, 2023
Fact Check
After running a reverse image search on some of the key-frames of the video we came across several social media posts from 2021, which carried the video, when cyclone Taukte hit Gujarat. We also came across a news report by Dainik Bhaskar from two years ago titled: “See the condition of Gujarat in 10 photos: The effect of Taukte storm is evident in Gujarat”, which carried a screengrab from the video in question.
Thus, it is clear that the video is old and is in no way related to cyclone Biparjoy.
Apart from B N Adhikari, other users such as @AnilKumarVerma_ and @AG_Journalist, both claiming to be journalists, shared videos claiming that those are related to cyclone Biparjoy.
Video 6:
Anil Kumar Verma (@AnilKumarVerma_), a journalist with News Nation according to his bio, shared a video where a man can be seen barely escaping getting hit by a flying tin sheet in windy weather. The user made the tweet claiming that the incident occurred as a result of the cyclonic storm Biparjoy. The tweet has received over 1 lakh views. (Archive)
Oh My God, Unbelievable Escape by Storm Biparjoy #Cyclone.#Biporjoy #BiparjoyCyclone #CycloneBiporjoy #Gujarat #gujratcyclone #BiparjoyAlert pic.twitter.com/5DFKJ3n82t
— Anil Kumar Verma (@AnilKumarVerma_) June 15, 2023
Fact Check
On running a reverse image search on a key frame of the video, we came across a report by ABP Live from October 2022 that carried a screengrab from the viral video. The report also carried an Instagram post by @ayan_____295, who shared the video on August 21, 2022. We also found the video on YouTube shared by the channel IB9TV on May 10, 2022.
Therefore, the video is at least one-year old and hence, not related to Cyclone Biparjoy.
Video 7:
Arun Gangwar (@AG_Journalist) who claims to be a journalist at India Daily Live, shared a video where the tidal waves of a water body can be seen engulfing a bridge. The user claimed that the incident occurred in Gujarat due to cyclone Biparjoy. The tweet has received over 2 lakh views. (Archive)
Biparjoy cyclone eats up a bridge in Gujarat, India. The cyclone is affecting India and Pakistan’s coastal belt.#CycloneBiparjoy #CycloneBiparjoyUpdate #CycloneBiporjoy pic.twitter.com/CPosMev5Kf
— Arun Gangwar (@AG_Journalist) June 15, 2023
Fact Check
On running a reverse image search on a key-frame of the video we came across a fact check of the same clip by The Quint from December 2017, which proved that the video was old. In 2017, the video was shared with the claim that the bridge in the video was the Bandra-Worli Sea Link.
The Quint refuted the claim with the help of fake news debunker SMHoaxSlayer, who fact-checked the claim on Twitter. SMHoaxSlayer shared a YouTube video from August 2017 by the channel Dweepdiary Lakshadweep with the title: “Minicoy Eastern Jetty Waves Attack 20170823” where it was mentioned that the visuals are from Lakshadweep.
This video of a huge wave engulfing a bridge is not BandraWorli Sealink as it’s getting Viral. This was posted in August I.e 3 months ago claiming to be from Lakshdweep. pic.twitter.com/bIqdwVoBg5
— SM Hoax Slayer (@SMHoaxSlayer) December 5, 2017
We found that another user also shared the video in August 2017 claiming that it is from Lakshadweep.
We further ran a keyword search and found that in 2021, India Today also fact-checked this video when it was related to Cyclone Yaas in Odisha. They got in touch with K Bahir, the chief editor of “Dweepdiary Lakshadweep” who told them that the video was captured from one of the south-end islands of Lakshadweep named Minicoy. On a bad weather day, heavy waves engulfed the Eastern Passenger Jetty on the Arabian Sea and a local suffered minor injuries while recording the video.
Therefore, the video of a bridge engulfed by sea waves is not related to Cyclone Biparjoy.
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