![]() Commentators have made comparisons to Sharknado, a film series that also involves sharks caught up in natural disasters. Some on social media have treated the Hurricane Shark as a meme, an in-joke hoax to be revived with each disaster, while others have genuinely believed in the authenticity of the photos being spread. Doctored photos of sharks swimming in urban areas went viral on social media in virtually every disastrous storm and hurricane in the decade since, often copies of the image that first circulated during Irene. Hurricane sharks as hoaxes have taken on a life of their own, in social media and in the press. ĭuring both Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Florence, fake television breaking news screen captures were seen online saying that the hurricane "now contains sharks", although neither contained images of sharks. Tom Phillips and Alexis Madrigal found the real shark image used to create the former Snopes did the same for the latter. Another appears to show a shark swimming down a suburban street. One image appears to depict a shark outside of a home in a suburban area. Later in 2012, after Hurricane Sandy struck New Jersey, other fake shark images circulated in addition to the better-known freeway one. While the flooding in Toronto was not the result of a hurricane, the hoax has often been compared to the main Hurricane Shark hoax. The image was later reused in a hoax claiming that a shark tank had burst at the Kuwait Scientific Center. Other images Īfter Toronto's Union Station flooded in June 2012, a manipulated image circulated purporting to show two sharks at the base of an escalator bank. ![]() Peschak has said his fans notify him each time the image re-emerges, but that "they're more outraged than I am". The image has frequently resurfaced on the internet with claims that it was taken during various flooding events, including in Houston during both the 2015 Texas–Oklahoma flood and tornado outbreak and the 2017 floods caused by Hurricane Harvey, and in Daytona Beach, Florida, in 2016 during floods caused by Hurricane Matthew. Craig Silverman, writing in the Star, cast it as part of a larger phenomenon of hoax images appearing in the aftermath of significant events. The Post compared it to similar hoax images, such as one supposedly of Osama bin Laden's body following his death. It had been created by combining an image of a flooded street in Puerto Rico with a photo of a shark taken by Thomas P. The image was debunked by the Post,, and the Toronto Star. National Geographic article featuring Peschak's 2003 photo In the aftermath of the hurricane, the image was aired by Miami Fox affiliate WSVN, was posted by the Miami Herald, and was widely shared on social media websites including Twitter. According to The Washington Post, it likely originated on Reddit. The original "Hurricane Shark" image was created during Hurricane Irene in 2011, with a claim that the shark was on a street in Puerto Rico. Both the re-emergence of the hoax in hurricane after hurricane and the eventual appearance of a plausible claim have been the subject of commentary and amusement Daniel Victor of The New York Times described the Associated Press's findings as "like discovering Bigfoot is real". However, during Hurricane Ian in 2022, the Associated Press verified a video taken by Dominic Cameratta of a shark or other large fish swimming in flooded Fort Myers, Florida one consulted expert concluded that the fish was "a juvenile shark" while another was unable to determine whether it was a shark. For more than a decade (starting with Hurricane Irene in 2011), all media purporting to document such claims-most notably an image of a shark swimming on a flooded freeway-were debunked as fabrications. Hurricane Shark and Street Shark are nicknames for several claimed instances of a live shark swimming in a flooded urban area, typically in the aftermath of a hurricane. For the television show, see Street Sharks.
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