Fact Check: Old image of Gujarat floods passed off as deluge in Chennai
An image of a submerged road where people are standing in a huge queue collecting water from a tanker is widely being shared on social media. It is being claimed that this picture was taken in Chennai post rainfall.
By Tejal Sinha Published on 9 Nov 2021 9:53 AM IST
Hyderabad: An image of a submerged road where people are standing in a huge queue collecting water from a tanker is widely being shared on social media. It is being claimed that this picture was taken in Chennai post rainfall.
The image was tweeted by SR Sekhar, State treasurer of Bharatiya Janata Party, Tamil Nadu on November 07. It had notched over 100 retweets and more than 600 likes. The image was shared with the hashtag 'Chennai Rains'.
Click here to view the above post
SR Sekhar had used the same image to reply to M K Stalin's tweet.
The chief minister shared a few images of him visiting the affected areas in Chennai due to the heavy rainfall. "The entire state administration has stepped up its efforts to confront #NorthEastMonsoon. I visited the areas affected by the heavy rains in Chennai. Complaints can be made by contacting the toll-free number 1070," he tweeted.
Click here to view the tweet
Click here to view similar posts on Twitter
Fact Check
The claim made through the viral post is Misleading.
NewsMeter performed a Google Reverse Image Search which led us to a report by The Indian Express on July 31, 2017. The report had the viral image published for the report titled, "Gujarat floods: How the deluge crippled the state".
According to the report, "Between July 24 and 25, Banaskantha recorded a whopping 257 mm of rainfall, nearly 40 percent of the entire monsoon rainfall in nearly 24 hours. Sabarkantha too faced a flood-like situation. The district recorded 180 mm, nearly a quarter of the season's rain in one day. The same night, neighboring Patan and Gandhinagar districts also recorded rainfall of over 100 mm."
The report had further quoted Principal Secretary (Revenue Department) Pankaj Kumar, who has been overlooking the relief and rescue operations. "The death of 14 members of a family at Khariya village in Kankrej was because of the breach in the Narmada canal, otherwise, the toll would have been much lesser. The breach occurred near Thara village in Banaskantha. We had to evacuate over 10,000 people from that area," he said.
The team also found a report by Hindustan Times headlined 'Mumbai 2005, Chennai 2015: Cities that came to a halt after heavy rains and floods'. The report had also published a similar image under the heading of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, 2017.
"Heavy overnight rains pounded Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar in Gujarat, throwing life out of gear in July. The death toll touched at least 129 in the state devastated by heavy flooding since the monsoon rains began a month ago. Both cities recorded 7 and 8 inches of rainfall over the night, leaving public transport crippled due to waterlogged roads," read the report.
The team further found a similar image from a different angle published on the website 'Alamy'. The description of the image read, "People queue to collect drinking water from a municipal tanker at a flooded residential colony in Ahmedabad"
The fact check team lastly searched for the reports on the recent heavy rainfall that took place in Chennai.
According to a report by The Indian Express on November 08, 2021, schools and other educational institutions will remain closed for the next couple of days. Apart from this, the report stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had assured Tamil Nadu CM to support the state after the heavy rainfall.
The report was headlined 'Chennai Rain Highlights: PM Modi assures Tamil Nadu CM of Centre's support after heavy rains in state'
It is therefore evident that the claim made is misleading. The image of a flooded road in Gujarat is being linked to recent rainfall in Chennai.
