Fact Check: Neither Odisha nor Andhra Pradesh, this scary storm video is from Hubbali in Karnataka
India Today
A viral video claiming to show the impact of Cyclone Asani in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh is false.
Cyclone Asani went from a deep depression over coastal Andhra Pradesh and further weakened to a depression, the India Meteorological Department said on May 12. But social media remained full of videos of the havoc it supposedly caused.
One such video was of strong winds blowing away furniture from an eatery. People shared the video on Twitter, claiming it showed the impact of Cyclone Asani in Odisha. Others claimed on Facebook that it was from Andhra Pradesh.
Even NDTV’s Twitter account shared the video on May 11 with the caption, “Rain Lashes Parts Of Andhra Coastline As #CycloneAsani Approaches.”
The India Today Anti Fake News War room (AFWA) found that this video was of a storm that hit Hubbali, Karnataka on May 5. It showed a canteen at Hubbali airport sustaining damage from strong winds.
The viral posts are archived here, here, and here.
Responding to NDTV’s tweet, Arunkumar Huralimath, a journalist with the New Indian Express, shared his tweet from May 5 that contained the same video. His tweet claimed it showed heavy rains at the Hubballi airport canteen. When we searched for incidents in Hubbali, Karnataka, we found another Twitter user who shared the same video on May 6 and also claimed it to be from the Hubbali airport canteen.
The Twitter account of a local news website “Hubbali- Dharwar Infra” shared a longer version of the same video (where a greater extent of the damage could be seen) on May 5 and claimed the location was the staff canteen at the Hubbali airport.
