Fact Check: Chennai Marina Beach inundated by heavy rainfall? No, the video is months old

Chennai experienced severe waterlogging on December 1, 2024, due to heavy rains triggered by Cyclone Fengal. Several roads and subways were submerged, significantly disrupting traffic. Emergency services evacuated residents from affected areas and addressed incidents such as the collapse of temporary structures caused by strong winds.

In this context, a video showing a flooded area has been circulating on social media, claiming to depict the situation in Marina Beach, Chennai.

A user on X shared the video and wrote, “Marina Beach Road Chennai.” The video itself is overlaid with the text: "MARINA BEACH, CHENNAI-TAMIL NADU" (Archive)

The video has also been circulated on Instagram with similar claims.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found the claim is false. This video has been on the internet at least since September.

Upon conducting a reverse image search of the video's keyframes, we found the same clip published on the Microsoft Network (MSN) portal by StringersHub on September 3. It stated that the video depicts flooded streets of Jeddah due to heavy rainfall.

We found the video was published on September 3 by Turkish media outlet Cay TV and Newsflare, an online news video platform. Both reported that the footage shows flooded streets in Jeddah following heavy rainfall. Additionally, a Saudi Arabia-based YouTube channel shared the same video on September 3, confirming it depicted Jeddah streets inundated after heavy rain on September 2.

An X account, The Weather Monitor, reported continuous rainfall that triggered flooding in Jeddah. Also, the Saudi Press Agency’s website confirmed that Jeddah experienced heavy rainfall on September 2.

The Tamil Nadu government's official fact-check unit has confirmed that the video in question is not from Chennai.

We could not independently verify the location of the video. However, it is clearly an old clip and is not related to the recent floods in Chennai.