FACT CHECK: X Video Of Hurricane Helene Includes Footage Of Floods In Czech Republic

Jean Mondoro | Contributor

A video shared to X claims to show footage of Hurricane Helene in the United States.

Verdict: Misleading

The clip is misleading. While part of the footage in the video is of the hurricane damage in North Carolina, some of it was pulled from a flood in the Czech Republic. The video includes no distinction between the two incidents.
Fact Check:

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.

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.

Jean Mondoro

Contributor

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