Old video viral as scenes of Cyclone Asani in Andhra Pradesh

The video dates back to June 2021 showing a storm in Srikakulam. It has no relation with Cyclone Asani.

This year is going to witness its first cyclone in the Bay of Bengal region, which has been named Cyclone Asani by Sri Lanka. Asani is likely to trigger a spell of rain in the coastal region of West Bengal, Karnataka, and Odisha. It will also affect the regions of Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Cyclone Asani weakened to a cyclonic storm on 11 May 2022, as it barreled towards north coastal Andhra Pradesh.

Amidst this, a video showing a huge cloud over the sea is widely circulating on social media with a claim that it shows visuals of the Cyclone Asani at the Machilipatnam beach in Andhra Pradesh.

The caption of the post states “#AsaniCyclone #Asani #cyclone Scene at #Machilipatnam beach. Very fearsome and scary. Power of Nature #Andhrapradesh” 

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Fact Check- 

We started our investigation by running a reverse image search on Google, on one of the key frames of the viral video. The results led us to a verified Facebook user named “Andhra Pradesh Weatherman” who posted the video on 17 June 2021. The caption of the post mentions, “Yarada Beach, Vizag. Before it rains!!”

We came across the same video uploaded by Andhra Pradesh weatherman on his Instagram account on 21 June 2021. He mentioned that this video is from Kalingapatnam Beach, Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh. This implies that the viral video is not a recent one. It does not show footage of Cyclone Asani.

Andhra Pradesh Weatherman also twitted a clarification on the same stating “This is not #CycloneAsani. This Video I have posted in my Instagram on 21 June 2021. Location – Kalingapatnam, Srikakulam”

Conclusion- 

Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video to be False. The viral video does not show footage of Cyclone Asani at the Machilipatnam beach in Andhra Pradesh.