Similar footage was reshared on Facebook here and here alongside the same claim, garnering about 55,000 views combined.
But the video was filmed during Hurricane Ian in 2022.
Hurricane Ian
AFP has previously debunked posts falsely claiming that the same circulating clip was of Hurricane Helene, which struck Florida in September.
The original footage was published by Max Olson — a self-described “storm chaser” — on YouTube on September 29, 2022 based on Google reverse image searches (archived link).
According to the video’s title, it shows a 15-foot (4.5-metre) high storm surge during Hurricane Ian.
Ian, one of the most powerful storms to hit the United States, flattened whole neighbourhoods and knocked out power lines and bridges as it hit Florida’s southwestern coast in late September 2022 (archived link).
Wind-driven storm surges and immense downpours left even inland neighbourhoods submerged, and dozens of people were killed.
“Our surge probe captured the heartbreaking evolution of a massive storm surge in Ft. Myers Beach, FL,” the YouTube video’s caption read.
Olson posted the “full, unedited” version of the 2022 footage on his YouTube channel in August 2023 (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the false video (left) and the YouTube video from Olson’s account (right):
A review of Olson’s YouTube channel shows a history of uploading witness footage of tornadoes and hurricanes in the United States.
US television news programme Good Morning America and newspaper The Washington Post published the same footage credited to Olson in 2022 (archived links here and here).
AFP geolocated the video to Estero Boulevard in Fort Myers Beach, Florida with the 2022 Google Maps Street View shown below (archived link).
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AFP has debunked other falsely circulating videos on Hurricane Milton here, here and here.
