Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
Video of a lightning-struck sky over a Lucknow highway.
Fact
Viral video is of a lightning strike in Texas, US, most likely from 2019.
A video purportedly showing a scary lightning strike over a “Lucknow highway” has gone viral on social media. We received this claim (9999499044) on our Whatsapp tipline, requesting us to fact-check it. Several social media users shared the video, seen here and here.
Twenty-one people were killed as a severe thunderstorm accompanied by heavy lightning and torrential rains lashed many parts of central and northwestern Uttar Pradesh between September 11 and 12.
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Fact Check
Newschecker ran a reverse image search of keyframes of the video using Yandex, which led us to a post on Jukinmedia, a media licensing platform, dated June 12, 2019, titled, Lightning Spreads Across Sky over Highway Traffic”. The location, according to the post, was Austin, Texas, while the description read, “These people were caught in traffic on the highway when they saw a shocking sight. Amazingly, lightning broke out and spread into tiny branches across the sky and the undersides of clouds.”
We also came across this Facebook post, dated July 21, 2021, featuring a clearer version of the viral video, which was credited to one Felipe Vial. A similar post can be seen here, describing it as a lightning strike across the Texas sky.
Upon close inspection, we noticed that the green signboard read “Rundberg Lane”, which we learnt was located in Austin, Texas, confirming that the viral video is not from Lucknow.
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Conclusion
Viral video of a lightning strike claimed to be in Lucknow was found to be from Austin, Texas, in the US.
Result: False
Sources
Jukin Media post, June 12, 2019
Facebook post, July 21, 2021
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
