A digitally created simulation clip from 2018 of a tornado is being falsely shared as Cyclone Nivar making landfall in Tamil Nadu and causing devastation.
Cyclone Nivar made a late-night landfall near Puducherry on November 25, 2020. The tropical storm which weakened to a severe cyclonic storm caused heavy rainfall with strong winds causing devastation in Chennai, parts of Tamil Nadu, and coastal towns in Puducherry. ANI reported at least three people were killed and three others injured in Tamil Nadu. The cyclone which is currently moving in the northwest direction is excepted to turn into a normal cyclonic storm in the South Interior districts of Karnataka according to The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).
In the 13-seconds clip, one can see a tornado suddenly appear at the sea coast with the caption reading, "Human life is gonna end soon. One after another, bad things happening to humans. Advance RIP humans #ChennaiRains"
Click here to view, and here for an archive.
Click here to view, and here for an archive.
Viral on Facebook
On searching on Facebook with the same caption, we found that the clip was the false claim.
Click here to view, and here for an archive.
Also Read: Video Of Flying Hoarding Injuring Bikers In Pak Viral As Cyclone Nivar
FACT-CHECK
We found that the viral clip is a Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) simulation clip of a tornado dating back to 2018 uploaded by a YouTuber and not from Tamil Nadu showing the arrival of Cyclone Nivar.
On breaking the video into key-frames and performing a reverse image search using Yandex, we found the viral clip is old. Taking a hint that the clip might be a CGI simulation and it looks like a tornado being formed, we searched with keywords like 'Tornado CGI' on YouTube.
We came across a longer clip uploaded by a YouTube channel Alexandru Dineci on December 18, 2018, with the title, "Tornado CGI simulation (Cinema 4D TurbulenceFD)". The same visuals can be seen in this original video as in the viral clip from the 10 seconds timestamp.
Dineci also posted a breakdown of how the simulation was created which can be seen in the below video.
This shows that it is not actual footage of a tornado but a CGI simulation.
BOOM has previously debunked misinformation around Cyclone Nivar when a video of a flying hoarding injuring bikers in Pakistan was falsely shared as an incident in Chennai, Tamil Nadu during the cyclone.
Also Read: Video Of Landslide In Indonesia Shared As Goa