Does a video compilation of clips showing extreme weather include authentic footage of Hurricane Beryl striking Cancun, Mexico, on July 5, 2024? No, there's no evidence that's true: At least two of the clips were available online before the hurricane formed. This means they could not possibly depict Hurricane Beryl.
The claim appeared in a post on Facebook Reels on July 6, 2024. The post included the date of July 5, 2024, the video compilation, and a caption that read:
Hurricane Beryl Cancun Tulum today
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Fri Jul 12 18:39:07 2024 UTC)
The montage opens with a dramatic clip of what appears to be a fire tornado, spinning over a strip mall. The footage, which appeared online at least as far back as May 29, 2024, does not show Hurricane Beryl, which became the first major Atlantic hurricane of the 2024 season in late June 2024.
A May 29, 2024, post (archived here) with that fire tornado video was marked as "Tornado in USA." In fact, the strip mall in the post is likely not located in Mexico at all, but rather Jacksonville Beach, Florida.
Shutterstock, a provider of stock images and videos, has two videos (here and here) available for purchase that appear to show the strip mall in question. The footage is identified as being of Hurricane Matthew, which struck Jacksonville Beach in 2016. The Shutterstock videos do not include the fire tornado.
Later in the July 6, 2024, post, a clip shows debris flying around a Walgreens. The clip appears to show the same incident as this video (archived here), which was posted online on May 21, 2022. Again, the July 6, 2024, post is a mirror image of the May 21, 2022, post, as evidenced by the reversed Walgreens sign.
The May 21, 2022, post was included in a video montage, purportedly about Hurricane Beryl, that Lead Stories previously debunked. You can read that fact check here and go here for additional fact checks of claims involving hurricanes and storms.
