Claim: Video shows a cloudburst in Pakistan.
Fact: The video is from Austria and shows a microburst over Lake Millstatt.
On 27 July, an Instagram user posted a video (archive) that apparently showed a cloudburst somewhere in Pakistan. The caption reads:
“This isn’t a movie. This is Pakistan, 2025. Cloudburst caught LIVE – and it’s not just nature, it’s climate change speaking loud. #Pakistan #Cloudburst #ClimateReality #ViralVideo #ExtremeWeather #ForYou #MonsoonMadness”.
According to the National Weather Service, “A microburst is a localized column of sinking air (downdraft) within a thunderstorm and is usually less than or equal to 2.5 miles in diameter.” There are two types of microbursts: Wet microbursts and dry microbursts.
Whereas a cloudburst is “an event over a concentrated area of 30sqkm or less with rain falling at a rate of 100mm or more per hour,” according to The Guardian report that quoted meteorologists.
Floods in Pakistan
This year, flash floods and landslides following monsoon rains have devastated several districts in Pakistan, particularly in the North and Northwest.
Cloudbursts in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, in July 2025 caused flash floods and landslides, resulting in road blockages and the destruction of a dozen homes, agricultural crops, and properties in Gilgit and Ghizer.
Punjab remains on high alert as it faces a flooding risk from key rivers, namely the Chenab, Ravi, and Sutlej, which have swollen due to extensive rains, and after India released water into Pakistan.
Since 26 June, at least 819 people have died across Pakistan, and another 1,111 have been injured, according to the latest situation report by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). Across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the death toll has risen to 479 deaths, which is just under half of the total casualties from the entire country.
Buner district in Malakand, KP was hit the hardest, with at least 237 reportedly dead as of 22 August, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
According to Dawn, which cited a report by the humanitarian aid organisation Islamic Relief, 60% of families have lost their livelihoods due to the flash floods. “The Islamic Relief’s emergency response team is on the ground distributing food and water, and the team’s assessment found that 73 per cent of houses are destroyed or partially damaged; sixty per cent of people in Buner and 53 per cent in Swat are now unable to support their families; eighty per cent of agricultural land in Buner has been damaged; nearly 50 per cent of livestock animals have died and been washed away,” the report added.
A BBC team visiting the flood-affected areas saw scenes of destruction on the way to “Buner’s Pir Baba Bazaar”, where “crops lay flattened on both sides of the road…Trees were uprooted and vehicles were in ruins – sometimes stuck in mud, sometimes in walls.”
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s provincial government has declared an emergency in the most affected districts, which will remain in place until 31 August.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched keyframes from the video and found that it is not from 2025 or Pakistan.
A Facebook account “Alo Maids Cleaning Services” posted a video on 11 October 2020. The description of the post reads, “Heaven opens its gates over Lake Millstatt in Austria.” The scenes in this clip match the video in the claim, indicating that it is old and likely from Austria.
The same video also appeared on Facebook in October 2020, confirming that it is not from 2025.
The reverse-search also yielded a report (archive) by Business Insider from June 2018, titled, “This mountaineer captured a stunning timelapse of a ‘tsunami from heaven’ — and people are in awe”. This article published an extended clip further down in the article, titled “Tsunami from Heaven / Amazing Rainstorm Timelapse / Downburst / Microburst”. The scenes in this clip align with the footage from the claim, as shown below, confirming that it does not show a cloudburst in Pakistan:
On the left if the Instagram post and on the right is the video published by Busines Insider.
According to the Business Insider article, mountaineer Peter Maier captured “a rare, wet microburst” over “Lake Millstatt, Austria”. The original video of the microburst from June 2018 can also be viewed on YouTube here.
Soch Fact Check therefore concludes that the video is not from 2025 or connected to Pakistan.
Virality
The Instagram post received 11,519 likes.
It was also shared on Instagram here (archive).
On YouTube here (archive) and here (archive).
Conclusion: The video in the claim does not show a “cloudburst” from the recent monsoon rains and flashfloods in the northwestern areas of Pakistan. Instead, it shows a microburst over Lake Millstatt, Austria, from 2018.
Background image in cover photo: Propakistani
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