Video from ABP news showing impact of Cyclone Biparjoy is misleading
Karachi was largely spared by the cyclone and experienced less than 5 mm of rain at any area each day of the week leading up to June 16.
Claim: A video from ABP News shows terrifying visuals of torrential rainfall and extreme winds in Karachi ahead of cyclone Biparjoy.
Fact: The video contains misleading and inaccurate visuals that do not reflect the actual weather conditions in Karachi before or during the cyclone. The video shows calm sea and winds, old footage of a dust storm, and unrelated footage of heavy rainfall. The video is false.
On 14 June 2023, ABP News, an Indian news channel, posted a video titled “Biparjoy storm’s tremendous impact seen in Karachi”. The video claimed to show the impact of the cyclone on Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, which was expected to be hit by the storm. The video has over 1.2 million views as of 27 June 2023.
However, the video, which includes visuals of torrential rainfall and extreme winds, contains several errors and inconsistencies that cast doubt on its authenticity and accuracy.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check analysed the video and found a number of factual inaccuracies. At timecodes 0:40 and 0:43, the narrator claims half the electricity poles in Karachi are down, and countless houses near the shore are flooded. This is false. International news reports confirm that the city was “largely spared” by the cyclone and did not experience any severe weather effects. The cyclone made landfall near Gujarat, India, on 16 June 2023, causing flooding, heavy rains and strong winds. Two people died in India, BBC News reported, and no deaths were reported in Pakistan.
At timecodes 0:13, 0:25, 1:07 and 1:10, the video shows visuals of sea view Karachi that do not show torrential rain or strong winds. These images contradict the claim that the video shows terrifying weather conditions in Karachi.
At timecode 0:30, the video shows a visual of extremely torrential rain, which is unrelated to the cyclone or Karachi. According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department, less than 5 mm of daily rain was recorded in Karachi until 16 June 2023, which is much too less for the visual of torrential monsoon-like rain to be legitimate. The visual appears to be from a different location and time.
At timecode 0:52, the video shows a visual of a dust storm that occurred in Karachi on 14 June 2023. The dust storm soon cleared up and caused no damage, deaths or significant loss of infrastructure.
Virality
The post has received 15.4K views, six retweets, 71 likes and two bookmarks on Twitter, indicating a moderate level of engagement and reach among the users.
Conclusion: The video from ABP News showing terrifying visuals of torrential rainfall and extreme winds in Karachi ahead of cyclone Biparjoy is false. The video contains misleading and inaccurate visuals that do not reflect the actual weather conditions in Karachi before or during the cyclone. The video shows calm sea and winds, old footage of a dust storm, and unrelated footage of heavy rainfall.
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