When Hurricane Milton hit Florida with devastating rain and wind in October 2024, an AI-generated compilation circulated in social media posts that falsely claimed to show “live updates” of the storm. The reports also claimed that Milton had reached “Category 6”, but this does not exist on the hurricane wind scale. AFP identified several visual inconsistencies in the longer version of the footage, which was first published on TikTok with the disclaimer that it did not show an actual scene.
“Live updates of Hurricane Milton in Florida reaching a Category 6. This is what it might look like,” read a Thai-language TikTok post on October 11, 2024.
The video, which has been viewed more than 130,000 times, appears to show storms generating destructive waves as they make landfall.
It was shared after Hurricane Milton made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast on October 9 (archived link).
At least 16 people were killed by the storm, which downed power lines, destroyed the roof of Tampa’s baseball stadium and flooded homes.
Millions of people were without power for days and experts estimated the cost of storm damage at $50 billion.
The compilation video, alongside similar false claims, was also shared on Facebook in Thai here and here, and in English here.
Comments on the posts indicated that some believed the clips were real.
“This is a completely real incident in Florida, USA,” read one comment.
Another said: “A hundred times scarier than a tsunami.”
However, the video was created by AI.
AI content creator
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the video led to the same clips being shared on TikTok on October 11, 2024.
The now-deleted post, which included a hashtag “Hurricane Milton,” read: “Disclaimer: This video is AI-generated and provides a visual representation of what a Category 6 hurricane might look like.”
Below is a screenshot comparison of the wrongly shared video (left) and the original video (right):
The video was uploaded to an account called “DoodleDreams”, whose profile page says they create “AI magic” (archived link).
There are several visual inconsistencies in it the longer video; including cars stationary after being hit by strong waves; a wobbly cloud-like umbrella flying in the air; and cars that look bigger than the highway they’re on.
Hurricane Ratings
Hurricanes are classified on a five-point scale – the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale – based on their maximum sustained wind speed (archived link).
Although Milton’s strength grew from Category 1 to Category 5 within hours as it swept eastward across the Gulf of Mexico, it made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 (archived link).
A Category 3 storm has maximum sustained winds between 178 and 208 kilometers per hour (111 to 129 miles per hour).
Category 3 and higher hurricanes are known as major hurricanes because of their potential for “significant loss of life and damage.”
AFP
Despite scientists’ proposals to add a higher category, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in February that it no plans to add a “Category 6” (archived link).
AFP has debunked other claims about Hurricane Milton here.
