Hurricane Helene made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast on Sept. 26 as a Category 4 storm with 140 mph winds. The storm weakened to a tropical storm over the Carolinas by mid-morning Friday, the National Hurricane Center said.
At least 17 people have died.
Numerous social media posts claim to show shocking videos from the storm. Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz reposted this video of an alligator making a surprise visit outside a home purportedly during Hurricane Helene. A VERIFY reader asked if this video of a man and dog being rescued from a sinking boat during the storm is real. Another video claiming to show Hurricane Helene’s intensity shows container ships trying to navigate storm waters.
The VERIFY team has been fact-checking the viral content to determine what’s real and what isn’t.
QUESTION #1
Was this video of an alligator seen in floodwaters taken during Hurricane Helene?
THE SOURCES
- ViralHog video from Aug. 30, 2021
- InVid and RevEye, video and photo forensics tools
THE ANSWER
No, this video of an alligator in flood waters wasn’t taken during Hurricane Helene. The video is several years old.
WHAT WE FOUND
The video shared by Gaetz included a #hurricanehelene hashtag, but it wasn’t taken during Hurricane Helene. The video was filmed in 2021 during Hurricane Ida.
Using InVid, a video forensics tool, VERIFY analyzed the viral video and conducted a reverse image search. That led us to the original video published by video licensing company ViralHog on Aug. 30, 2021.
According to information provided to ViralHog, it was taken in Mandeville, Louisiana, during Hurricane Ida.
“I was walking out of my condo to show rising water in the courtyard pool area during Hurricane Ida, when I spotted an 8-foot alligator that turned toward the steps as if to walk up at me. He later went under the staircase, then I propped the gate open and he must have left,” the person filming told ViralHog.
QUESTION #2
Is this video of the U.S. Coast Guard rescuing a man and his dog during Hurricane Helene real?
THE SOURCES
- Social media posts from U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater
- Original video from Sept. 26, 2024 distributed by the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS)
THE ANSWER
Yes, this video of the U.S. Coast Guard rescuing a man and his dog during Hurricane Helene is real.
WHAT WE FOUND
On Sept. 26, the U.S. Coast Guard rescued a man and his dog who were stranded at sea after his 36-foot sailboat took on water, the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed on social media.
The video was published to the Coast Guard’s social media pages on Sept. 26 and distributed by DVIDS, the official U.S. military portal for distributing images and video.
According to the caption on DVIDS, the man was sailing 25 miles off Sanibel Island, Florida, when the boat became disabled. The man and his dog were both reportedly in good condition.
VERIFY partner station WTSP in Tampa, which has been covering the storm, also reported on the man and his canine companion being saved.
QUESTION #3
Does this video show container ships caught in Hurricane Helene?
THE SOURCES
- Video posted to TikTok in December 2023
- Video posted to YouTube in September 2021
- InVid and RevEye, video and photo forensics tools
THE ANSWER
No, this video doesn’t show container ships caught in Hurricane Helene. It’s a compilation of several videos that predate the September 2024 storm.
WHAT WE FOUND
This video doesn’t show container ships caught in Hurricane Helene. VERIFY was able to confirm that this video was created by combining several other videos of ships at sea that predate the September 2024 storm.
Using InVid, VERIFY analyzed the viral video and conducted a reverse image search. That led us to this video posted to TikTok in December 2023; it is the same compilation video that is being shared as being from Hurricane Helene.
VERIFY is unable to confirm the original source of each video, but one of the video clips is at least three years old.
At the 55-second mark of the viral video, a ship with a green deck can be seen as water comes crashing over the bow. Also using InVid and RevEye, VERIFY was able to match that portion of the video to one that an Indonesian account posted to YouTube on Sept. 13, 2021.
The VERIFY team works to separate fact from fiction so that you can understand what is true and false. Please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter, text alerts and our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Learn More »