Claim: A video shows the “menacing skies & turbulent seas” of Cyclone Biparjoy near Sea View, Karachi.
Fact: The video does not show Karachi’s Sea View, nor is it from any coastal areas of Pakistan. It is, in fact, Category 2 Pacific Hurricane Olaf, which made landfall in Baja California Peninsula in Mexico in September 2021.
On 15 June 2023, Neo News posted on its Urdu Twitter account a video (archive) claiming it shows a scene from Karachi, Pakistan, as Cyclone Biparjoy made landfall.
Neo News captioned the video as follows:
“Impending Cyclone Biporjoy set to strike Pakistan and India; Karachi Sea View visuals reveal menacing skies & turbulent seas. #NeoNews #CycloneBiporjoy #Karachi #Gujrat”
Cyclone Biparjoy was set to bring “widespread dust storms and thunderstorms in the southern Sindh province, with some very heavy rain and squally winds of 50-60 mph (80-100 kph)”, according to CNN (archive), which quoted the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD).
Read more: Posts falsely allege artist’s work is clip of Hurricane Shaheen
Officials in India, which was primarily hit by Cyclone Biparjoy, said at least “22 people have been injured as a result of the cyclone and damage to electricity poles has caused power outages in parts of the state”, Al Jazeera (archive) reported.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), in a statement posted to Twitter (archive) on 16 June 2023, said Biparjoy “has weakened into a Severe Cyclonic Storm (SCS)”.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check had previously investigated the viral video in question when the PMD on 12 July 2022 had forecast severe rains and thunderstorms in Karachi and other parts of southern Sindh.
The keyframes we used from the video in our search led us to a clip posted on 9 September 2021 clip (archive) by TikTok user @adrianreal07, which includes the hashtags #loscabos, #huracan, #lluvia, #odile, and #olaf.
We enhanced the search results with the keywords “hurricane” and “olaf” and found an article titled, “Prevén que ‘Olaf’ toque tierra por la noche en Baja California Sur [‘Olaf’ predicted to make landfall at night in Baja California Sur],” by one of Mexico’s daily newspapers, La Jornada (archive).
Emiten alerta roja por huracán #Olaf en Baja California Sur. Info https://t.co/daBhWtnCib pic.twitter.com/zJjTytIHno
— La Jornada (@lajornadaonline) September 9, 2021
As we mentioned in our previous investigation, the La Jornada article includes a tweet (archive) containing the same video that is now viral on social media with the claim it shows Cyclone Biparjoy near Karachi.
Also read: Viral video does not show thunderstorm brewing in Karachi
The Associated Press (archive) reported in September 2021 that Hurricane Olaf — a Category 2 Pacific hurricane — made landfall in Baja California Peninsula in Mexico.
Virality
The video tweet (archive) posted by Neo News has been viewed more than 110,300 times and received more than 30 comments, 190 retweets, and 650 likes.
Conclusion: The video shows Hurricane Olaf, a Category 2 Pacific hurricane that made landfall in Baja California Peninsula in Mexico in September 2021. It is not connected to Karachi’s Sea View or any coastal areas of Pakistan.
Background image in cover photo: Matt Hardy
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