Fake Videos of Hurricane Melissa Flood Social Media as Storm Devastates Caribbean

Artificially generated videos purporting to show Hurricane Melissa’s destruction are proliferating across social media platforms as the powerful storm continues to wreak havoc across the Caribbean region.

The category five hurricane has pummeled Cuba after generating sustained winds of 298km/h that caused widespread devastation in Jamaica. The storm also drenched Haiti, where authorities have confirmed at least 25 fatalities so far.

As the hurricane progresses through the region, misleading content has begun circulating widely, particularly on Facebook, where accounts based in Australia and New Zealand are sharing fabricated footage allegedly depicting the storm’s impact on Jamaica.

One widely shared video shows a power pole collapsing amid rapidly rising floodwaters. The post, captioned “praying for Jamaica,” appears convincing at first glance but contains a telltale sign of its inauthenticity—a clearly visible watermark from OpenAI’s video generation tool, Sora.

The same account distributed additional fake footage bearing identical Sora watermarks. These videos depict dramatic scenes of roofs being torn from buildings, fallen trees blocking roadways, and vehicles with shattered windows—none of which represent actual hurricane damage.

The spread of misinformation extends beyond a single source. Another Australian Facebook account shared what purports to be aerial footage of Hurricane Melissa, but this video has been traced back to a TikTok user known as “earthimpacts,” who explicitly labels their content as AI-generated.

This flood of synthetic disaster footage comes as residents in affected areas struggle to access accurate information during a genuine crisis. The practice of sharing AI-generated content without proper labeling has become increasingly problematic during natural disasters, when real-time information is crucial for both those affected and concerned observers worldwide.

Hurricane Melissa represents one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in recent years. Its impact on Jamaica has been particularly severe, with infrastructure damage that will likely take months, if not years, to repair fully. Cuba now faces similar challenges as the hurricane makes landfall there.

In Haiti, a nation still recovering from multiple natural disasters including the devastating 2010 earthquake and more recent storms, the death toll continues to rise. The country’s limited emergency response capabilities have been stretched to their limits as flooding compounds existing humanitarian challenges.

Social media platforms have implemented various measures to combat misinformation during crisis events, but AI-generated content presents new difficulties in content moderation. The realistic quality of tools like Sora can make distinguishing between authentic and synthetic footage increasingly challenging for both automated systems and human moderators.

Experts advise social media users to exercise caution when sharing hurricane-related content, suggesting verification through official weather services and established news organizations before redistributing dramatic footage. Telltale signs of AI generation often include unusual lighting effects, physically impossible movements, or inconsistent weather conditions.

The proliferation of fake disaster videos isn’t merely a matter of misinformation—it can potentially divert attention and resources away from legitimate relief efforts while causing unnecessary distress to those with loved ones in affected areas.

As Hurricane Melissa continues its path through the Caribbean, meteorologists urge residents in potentially affected areas to rely on official government communications and recognized weather services for guidance rather than unverified social media content.

AAP FactCheck, an accredited member of the International Fact-Checking Network, continues to monitor and debunk false claims related to the hurricane as part of broader efforts to combat misinformation during natural disasters.