FACT CHECK: Does This Video Show A Flood In India Washing A Bridge Away?
A video shared on Facebook purportedly shows a bridge collapsing in India’s Assam state.
Verdict: False
The video shows a bridge in Indonesia collapsing in April 2021.
Fact Check:
Heavy rain starting last week has reportedly resulted in large-scale flooding in parts of eastern India and Bangladesh, according to Al-Jazeera. Authorities said the floods killed at least 24 people in the northeastern Indian state of Assam by May 23, The Weather Channel reported.
A May 16 video shared on Facebook claims to show the effects of this flooding. It shows a bridge collapsing and being swept away by a mass of water. “See this flood In Assam .country India,” reads the video’s caption. “How water in one mints broken the bridge …” (RELATED: Do Photos Show Anderson Cooper Exaggerating Flooding From Hurricane Florence?)
However, the footage predates the recent flooding in India. A version of it was posted on Twitter April 5, 2021 with text indicating it showed flash flooding in Indonesia, not India.
The flash flood incident that occurred in East Flores, NTT, besides killing as many as 67 local residents, the river carrying mud and logs also damaged people’s houses and infrastructure facilities of roads and bridges #Indonesia pic.twitter.com/cx36AIC7Na
— Ariel Moshe アリエル・モシェ (@ambarukmo15) April 5, 2021
At the time the video appeared on Twitter, Indonesia was reeling from Cyclone Seroja, which had impacted in April and had caused flash floods and landslides that killed over 180 people in the country, according to NASA’s Earth Observatory. The Indonesian media outlet Brilio published an April 5, 2021 article about the cyclone-induced flooding that included an image from the clip.