Flooding footage shows Mumbai, India, not Florida during Hurricane Milton

Thousands of Floridians fled their homes in anticipation of Hurricane Milton, which made landfall Oct. 9 on Florida’s east coast. The hurricane flooded communities as it dumped up to 18 inches of rain in some areas and generated dozens of tornadoes. At least eight people died. But a video showing traffic navigating sodden roadways predates this storm. 

“People attempting to flee Florida & Hurricane Milton,” an Oct. 9 Threads post sharing the video said.

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

A reverse-image search led us to a Sept. 25 Instagram post that identified the road as the Western Express Highway in Mumbai, India. 

“Mumbai rain,” said the caption, translated from Hindi to English by Google Translate.

News reports and aerial footage of waterlogged roads showed the aftermath of heavy rainfall in Mumbai that started Sept. 23. 

“Heavy traffic jam due to waterlogging in Mumbai,” another Sept. 25 Instagram post said.

By evening Sept. 25, regions including Mumbai were under a red alert from the Indian Meteorological Department “warning of extremely heavy rainfall, thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds at isolated locations,” The Free Press Journal in Mumbai reported.

This predated Hurricane Milton by about two weeks. 

We rate claims that a video shows people stuck on bridges during Hurricane Milton False.