Storm footage predates Hurricane Helene, filmed elsewhere | Fact check

A Sept. 25 Instagram video (direct link, archive link) shows an array of videos of storm and hurricane footage.
“Hurricane Helene in Florida, USA,” reads text within the video.
More from the Fact-Check Team: How we pick and research claims | Email newsletter | Facebook page
The video is miscaptioned. The clips show unrelated storms in different locations.
Hurricane Helene struck Florida’s Gulf Coast on Sept. 26 as a Category 4 storm, causing mandatory evacuations for several counties and triggering power outages for millions of residents in the Southeast.
However, the clips shown in the Instagram video are unrelated to the destructive hurricane.
Most obvious is the fact that the post was shared on Sept. 25, the day before the storm initially hit Florida. The footage in it is sped-up versions of video filmed in many different locations and shows an array of storms and tornados.
The first clip of a storm tearing through a yard with a shed and a red truck was shared on YouTube by Reuters in July 2023. The footage shows a tornado striking North Carolina, according to the video’s title.
The second clip shows strong winds whipping debris across a street during a storm in Urbandale, Iowa, in July, according to a Facebook post shared by a group of meteorologists.
Fact check: Image of person thrown in storm not from Hurricane Beryl 
The video of the trampoline blowing across someone’s backyard and tearing through their fence was captured during a 2021 storm in North Carolina, according to the Weather Channel.
The clip of a storm filmed from a balcony was shared on TikTok on Sept. 7, nearly three weeks before Hurricane Helene touched down in Florida. Text in the TikTok video says the footage was captured during a typhoon in Vietnam.
The user who shared the post couldn’t be reached for comment.
Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or e-newspaper here.
USA TODAY is a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network, which requires a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisanship, fairness and transparency. Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Meta.