FACT CHECK: X Video Of Hurricane Helene Includes Footage Of Floods In Czech Republic
A video shared to X claims to show footage of Hurricane Helene in the United States.
🚨CATASTROPHIC Damage in Western, NC:
-100 times WORSE than Katrina
-Bodies lying everywhere.
-Uncountable number of bodies trapped in cars.
-THOUSANDS still missing.
-NO Federal Aid
-Media has been CRIMINALLY Silent.
-Death Toll from Katrina about 1,600. This will be… pic.twitter.com/9dlYJAO4tC
— Stew Peters (@realstewpeters) September 30, 2024
Verdict: Misleading
Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida on Sept. 26, NBC News reported. The Category 4 storm has severely damaged multiple states on the East Coast, including North Carolina, per the outlet.
Social media users on X have shared a video claiming to show the devastation Hurricane Helene has had on Asheville, North Carolina.
However, part of the hurricane footage is from the Czech Republic, with nearly 30 seconds of the video taken from footage of the European storms last month.Reuters reported Sept. 18 that Europe was undergoing its worst floods in the past 20 years, including the Czech Republic.
Check Your Fact found the clip, which was posted to YouTube by Al Jazeera on Sept. 17. The caption reads,”Firefighters rescued by helicopter from Czech Republic floods.”
The same rescue was also included in a September 15 video report by BBC News, which put together a compilation of damage sustained in central Europe. Additionally, that report featured a clip of rescuers saving a child from the floods in Poland using a jet ski. (RELATED: Does This Post Accurately Depict Hurricane Helene Footage?)
The second half of the two-minute, 19-second video does show aerial footage from the North Carolina city, such as wrecked buildings and homes, cars and houses submerged in water and demolished roads. CNN has released video reports of the serious flooding in the Tar Heel State, showing similar footage of the damage in the second half of the videos on X.
🚨Breaking News: Helene in Western, NC
From my friends in Asheville:
-The hospital can no longer sterilize equipment.
-There are so many bodies in cars you can NOT count. Bodies are laying everywhere.
-There is NO AID except rescues
-100 times more dire than Katrina
-Rescue… pic.twitter.com/xBlrdDHIN1— FoxyFarmer🦊🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇮🇱 (@GardensR4Health) September 30, 2024
In North Carolina, at least 56 people have died in Hurricane Helene, with 40 in Buncombe County alone, which includes Asheville. As of Sept.30, more than 130 people have died from the storm across all impacted states, CBS News reported.