WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Footage shows NSW storm damage in July 2025.
OUR VERDICT
False. The footage is not of NSW's 2025 storms.
AAP FACTCHECK - Videos from regional Armenia and the Caribbean are being falsely passed off as storms affecting Australia's east coast in social media posts.
An east coast low brought heavy rain and strong winds to parts of NSW in early July 2025, causing flooding and other storm damage.
A Facebook post with more than three million views from July 2, 2025, is captioned "Chaos in Australia, Bomb Cyclone hits New South Wales today," with overlaid text that reads "Bomb Cyclone hits Brisbane, Queensland today".
It includes a video featuring several clips of heavy rain, wind and damage to buildings.
A reverse image search shows the first clip was actually filmed in Aparan, Armenia, which was hit by a tornado on June 15, 2025.
The earliest version of the video AAP FactCheck could find was shared by a TikTok user on that date.
It was also published by local news outlet 24News on YouTube on June 15, 2025.
The second clip in the post appears to be filmed from a set of exterior stairs and shows part of a building's roof flying away.
The footage has been flipped and can be traced back to a YouTube video (timestamp one minute five seconds) posted by WxChasing, a website dedicated to storm chasing.
The video, published on July 2, 2024, captures Hurricane Beryl's landfall on the Caribbean island of Carriacou.
Several other flipped clips show Typhoon Krathon, which affected Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in October 2024.
A reverse image search reveals that the clip, filmed across the road from a FamilyMart convenience store, was originally posted on Threads on October 3, 2024.
AAP FactCheck searched for FamilyMart stores in the area on Google Maps and found a shop on Hanmin Road that matches the one shown in the video, next to a MedFirst pharmacy.
The clip filmed at an intersection across from a Chanel shopfront can be similarly geolocated to the Hanshin department store on Chenggong 1st Road.
While the video of a portable toilet being swept across the road was posted on Facebook on October 3, 2024, by an account that also has the FamilyMart clip.
Another clip shows a row of parked cars while rain and wind lash against trees in the background.
The footage was not filmed in NSW but rather in Reunion, a French island territory located near Madagascar, according to a YouTube video published by Storyful, which credits the original to an Instagram user.
The footage dates back to February 2025, when Cyclone Garance made landfall on the island, causing widespread damage.
A reverse image search reveals a further clip showing strong winds and heavy rain next to a building can be traced back to a 2020 TikTok video from a user who appears to be based in Thailand.
AAP FactCheck has previously addressed out-of-context footage spread during Cyclone Alfred, which affected southeast Queensland in March 2025.
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