X posts
X posts
stated on October 26, 2025 in a post on X:

Video shows Hurricane Melissa hitting Jamaica on Oct. 26, 2025.

False

These clips don’t show Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica; they show weather events from around the world

If your time is short

  • This TikTok compilation isn't from Hurricane Melissa. These videos were posted online before the hurricane made landfall in Jamaica, which was expected to happen Oct. 28.

  • Some of the clips are from Oklahoma, Italy and Mexico.

See the sources for this fact-check

Hurricane Melissa grew to a Category 5 hurricane Oct. 27 as it neared Jamaica, but videos that social media users claim show the storm making landfall are deceiving — it wasn’t on shore yet when the videos were posted. 

An Oct. 26 TikTok video shows footage of intense flooding, wind and property damage, and, occasionally, people screaming in English in the background. 

“Hurricane Melissa Category 5 hits Jamaica with 160 mph winds right now,” says text on the video, which had 1.8 million views as of the afternoon of Oct. 27.

Other users on TikTok and Threads also shared the video. 

The Associated Press reported that Melissa could be the strongest hurricane Jamaica has experienced in decades. One advisory said the hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 160 miles per hour, as the TikTok says, but the footage in the post was taken from previous disaster events.

Video shows 2018 storm in Maratea, Italy

False graphic of Hurricane Melissa 1
Figure 1: False graphic of Hurricane Melissa 1

(Screengrab from TikTok post.)

The first clip shows high waves topping a safety wall and moving inland, but this footage isn’t from Jamaica. When doing a reverse image search, PolitiFact found the video is from a 2018 storm in the small town of Maratea, Italy. We found a newscast and a report about the storm from the Italian news outlet Potenza News24 City. Getty Images also published the same footage in 2018 about Maratea. 

Video showing red vehicles isn’t from Jamaica

False graphic of Hurricane Melissa 2
Figure 2: False graphic of Hurricane Melissa 2

(Screengrab from TikTok post.)

The second clip in the TikTok that shows strong winds and two red vehicles also isn’t from Jamaica. The footage appeared in another misleading video shared in August and supposedly from Cheyenne, Wyoming. However, the earliest version of the clip online is from a June 21 TikTok post that says it was from Hurricane Erick in Ometepec, Mexico.

Video shows storm in Veracruz, Mexico

False graphic of hurricane Melissa 3
Figure 3: False graphic of hurricane Melissa 3

(Screengrab from TikTok post.)

The clip where a palm tree falls on a gray SUV wasn’t in Jamaica either. PolitiFact found the same video shared on Facebook in May with a Spanish subtitle saying it was because of a storm in the Universidad Tecnológica del Centro de Veracruz in Veracruz, Mexico. A TikTok user also shared the footage in May, saying it was in the same Veracruz university in Mexico. 

Video shows a storm in Oklahoma

False graphic of hurricane Melissa 4
Figure 4: False graphic of hurricane Melissa 4

(Screengrab from TikTok post.)

The footage that shows high winds and an SUV getting hit by leaves was originally shared June 5 on Facebook by Mike Morgan, Oklahoma’s News 4’s (KFOR-TV) chief meteorologist. Morgan said this was a “weaker tornado” that hit Garvin County. 

Videos shows footage of 2018 Hurricane Michael

False graphic of hurricane Melissa 5
Figure 5: False graphic of hurricane Melissa 5

(Screengrab from TikTok post.)

The clip of strong winds and rain blowing through what looks like the entrance to a parking garage is from 2018. Dan Robinson, a storm chaser, filmed the clip during Hurricane Michael in Panama City, Florida. 

Video shows storm in Moncalieri, Italy

Our Sources

TikTok post, Oct. 26, 2025

Facebook post, May 9, 2025

TikTok post, May 9, 2025

TikTok post, May 21, 2025

Facebook post, June 5, 2025

TikTok post, Aug. 1, 2025

Threads post, Oct. 26, 2025

Facebook post, Aug. 14, 2024

The Associated Press, Melissa strengthens to a Category 5 hurricane and is forecast to make landfall in Jamaica, Oct. 27, 2025 

Oklahoma’s News4, Mike Morgan/KFOR Chief Meteorologist, accessed Oct. 27, 2025

Getty Images, 'Tsunami-Like Waves' Overrun Small Harbour in Italy During Storm, March 21, 2018

NOAA, Hurricane Melissa Public Advisory, Oct. 27, 2025

NOAA, Hurricane Melissa Public Advisory, Oct. 27, 2025

News24.City, MARATEA | Violenta mareggiata a Maratea, March 22, 2018

News24.City, Violenta mareggiata a Maratea, March 21, 2018

CNN, Category 5 Melissa closing in on catastrophic landfall in Jamaica, Oct. 27, 2025

Dan Robinson, The RAW POWER of Hurricane Michael in Panama City: Sound & visuals in 4K, Oct. 14, 2018

Stormhighway.com, accessed Oct. 27, 2025

METEOWEB, Maltempo Sicilia, forti temporali a Palermo: strade allagate, caos in città | VIDEO, June 18, 2025