Is Hurricane Florence picking up sharks? Fact Check

A graphic is spreading across social media that purports to show a news clipping stating that Hurricane Florence “now contains sharks”.

The graphic below claims that a NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) aircraft had spotted sharks being lifted into the hurricane that is due to hit the US east coast.

Breaking News
Florence now contains sharks
News reports from NOAA aircraft show sharks have been lifted into hurricane

However, for those fearing that sharks may come raining down on the east coast of the United States as hurricane Florence hits, you needn’t be, since the graphic is entire fake. It seems pranksters, no doubt inspired by the B-movie franchise Sharknado, have created a fake graphic using an online service.

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That online service is MakeYourOwnNews.com, which allows visitors to prank others by entering their own headline, by-line and image to create their very own graphic.

The graphic comes with a watermark in the top right, but these appear to have been digitally blurred by pranksters.

This isn’t the first time the website has been used to trick Internet users in hurricane shark themed nonsense. The same graphic circulated with a similar headline when Hurricane Irma hit in 2017, as you can see below.

While hurricanes can certainly pick up animals with their strong winds, the claim that they are picking up sharks is something straight from the script of a Hollywood movie.