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Was Hurricane Milton artificially created by a HAARP facility located in Florida?

Claim: Hurricane Milton was artificially created through manipulation of the weather using HAARP technology which is proved by such a facility being perfectly positioned around Florida. 

Fact: Video shows an underwater coral nursery off the Florida Keys that has been falsely described as an Alaska-based High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) facility. 

What is the claim saying?

Social media users have posted a one-minute long video showing someone using Google Maps’ satellite imagery to explore a location off Florida’s southeast coast. They zoom in and access an underwater 360-degree image. 

“#BREAKING- SHARE HAARP is positioned perfectly right around Florida. It does seem to be activated at as the whole state of Florida seems to be needing to prepare from wants to come. Hopefully, this thing takes a turn, but please if you can try to get how to Florida or to go higher ground. This video is very eye-opening and it had it for a while, but it just seem to hit me more after I have been watching hurricane Milton’s path!” read the caption of an X post with the viral video which has been viewed 1.7 million times so far. 

Here’s the post:

What did we find?

We found that the visuals show a coral nursery off the Florida Keys, not a HAARP facility.

The underwater image was uploaded to Google Maps in April 2015 by Underwater Earth, an Australian non-profit advocating for the protection and preservation of oceans. 

Similar visuals were also seen in a Facebook post from September 2014 by Underwater Earth about a visit to a coral nursery in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 

Ken Nedimyer, founder of the coral restoration organisation Reef Renewal, which partnered with the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, told Reuters that the image was taken at their ‘coral nursery located off Tavernier, Florida, and near Pickles Reef and Snapper Ledge Reef.’

Conspiracy theories centered around HAARP

The High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) was a U.S. military research initiative from 1993 to 2014, aimed at studying the Earth’s ionosphere. Despite its scientific goals, HAARP has been the focus of conspiracy theories claiming it was used for weather control, mind manipulation, and other secret activities by the government. 

A spokesperson for HAARP told Reuters: “HAARP can’t create, modify or manipulate a hurricane” and has “absolutely no connection to the formation of hurricanes like Helene or Milton.”

The conclusion

Social media users have shared visuals of a coral nursery as a HAARP facility from Florida falsely linking it with Hurricane Milton. Scientists have already established that human induced climate change plays a major role in extreme weather events like Hurricane Milton and Helene. They have also confirmed that it is not possible for HAARP to influence hurricanes and other extreme weather events. 

References:

X Post by User

Photo on Google Maps

https://www.underwater.earth

Facebook post by Underwater Earth

Reef Renewal USA

https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/image-florida-coral-nursery-falsely-linked-weather-manipulation-2024-10-11

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/hurricane-milton-helene-fact-checking-conspiracies-rumors-2024-10-09

Banner image: Collage of screenshots from the Claim post

Manjori Borkotoky
Manjori Borkotoky
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