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Fake Hurricane Photos: Cajun Navy, Planes Underwater, Black Lives Matter Protests – What Is Real From Harvey?

By Danny Cox
Published on: 14:29 PST, Aug 28, 2017

Hurricane Harvey has brought about so much damage and destruction that many are finding it hard to believe their eyes when they look at social media, and honestly, they should. While the horrific storm has damaged so many homes and cities in Texas, there are a number of fake photos being passed around on social media that have absolutely nothing to do with this hurricane. There are many people posting pics of their lost homes while others find it humorous to post a hoax to fool everyone.

By now, a lot of people have probably seen the picture of the shark swimming down the highways in Houston as the floodwaters from Harvey continue to rise. Well, if you haven’t seen the picture during this storm, you may have seen it during some of the others in the last few years.

As reported by the Houston Chronicle, the photo of the shark swimming down a Houston highway is completely fake. An Ireland-based blogger named Jason Michael tweeted the picture out and helped it go viral just as it did during Superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Irene, and even the recent South Carolina floods.

It’s actually a photograph from National Geographic that has since been photoshopped into a city setting. While many have believed it to be true again, there are many others which are popping up all over the place.

Another picture making the social media rounds is one that supposedly shows the tarmac at the Houston airport with Delta airplanes underwater. Well, it’s another fake as it was not taken during Hurricane Harvey and as a matter of fact, it isn’t real at all.

The Daily Mail cleared things up to let everyone know that the airport pictured is LaGuardia in New York City and it wasn’t flooded. The picture comes from a simulation done by Climate Central in 2013 that was doing research on the environment and climate change effect.

A group known as the “Cajun Navy” has been sending a lot of people power and boats to Houston as the people of Louisiana are ready to help out. More than a decade ago, Houston greatly helped out as so many in Louisiana dealt with Hurricane Katrina and now, the favor is being returned but not with the picture above.

If you’d like to do a quick reverse Google image search, you’ll see that the photo being passed around is from the Cajun Navy helping out in 2016 as shown on The Hayride. Many volunteers and Good Samaritans have already made their way to Texas, but not by way of this picture.

Twitter and Facebook have grown irate at the idea that a group of Black Lives Matter supporters were blocking emergency crews from helping those affected by the hurricane. This report came from a website called Our Land of the Free which is completely satire. Their “About Us” page even states all posts should be considered as such and “all images photoshopped to look like something they’re not.”

This picture of a man saving his family in a refrigerator was indeed taken in Houston, but not during Hurricane Harvey as PeaceBenWilliams reports. It is actually being recycled from a flood that took place in Greenspoint back in April of 2016.

A number of other fake photos are being passed around social media sites to make people believe they are from Hurricane Harvey. There is one showing a giant alligator on someone’s driveway. There are photos of funnel clouds and lightning coming together at the same time, but they weren’t in Houston.

There is no doubt that Hurricane Harvey has already caused a lot of problems, a lot of damage, and plenty of heartache for millions of people. Even as of Monday evening, it was far from done bringing the worst as so many will be without power and running water or even shelter for weeks and months. Social media is a great way to raise awareness to those who need help and those who have to show what is going

[Featured Image by Dronebase/AP Images]

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