Fact Check: Viral image showing submerged Amaravati is not recent
Heavy rains lashed parts of coastal Andhra Pradesh during the last one week. The rains disrupted normal life in many parts of coastal Andhra and led to the closure of schools and colleges. Districts in northern Andhra Pradesh and the Godavari delta
Claim :
Viral image shows Amaravati, capital of Andhra Pradesh, during recent floods (2024)Fact :
The viral image is an old one, it was shot in the year 2019
Heavy rains lashed parts of coastal Andhra Pradesh during the last one week. The rains disrupted normal life in many parts of coastal Andhra and led to the closure of schools and colleges. Districts in northern Andhra Pradesh and the Godavari delta area have been experiencing heavy downpour. The water-level in River Godavari is rising following heavy inflows from the upper catchment areas in Odisha, Telangana, and Maharashtra.
Several visuals of rainwater flooding low-lying areas are seen in the mainstream media as well as social media. Amidst this situation, an image showing an aerial view of Amaravati submerged in flood water is in circulation on social media with the claim that it shows the present flood situation in the capital city of Andhra Pradesh, Amaravati.
An Instagram user shared this image with the caption “బాబు గారు కడుతున్న సింగపూర్ ఇప్పుడు స్విమ్మింగ్ పూల్ అయింది అందరు దానిలో దూకి ఎంజాయ్ చేయండి”. When translated, it claims “The Singapore being built by Chandrababu Naidu now become a swimming pool, everyone swim in it and enjoy.”
Another X user shared the same image with the caption: “amravati drainage , will anyone invest here?”
Fact Check:
The claim is Misleading. The image in circulation is not recent, it was shot in 2019. When we performed a reverse image search on Google, we found that the viral image was shared by a user named r/IndiaSpeaks in the year 2019. The image was shared with the caption ‘Situation in Amaravati (AP) after floods’.
The image was also shared by a Facebook user on August 17, 2019, with the caption in Telugu ‘వరద వస్తే అమరావతి లో పరిస్థితి ఇలా ఉంటుంది”, which means ‘The situation of Amaravati, when it rains’
The image was later used by several news websites in their articles. An article in teluguglobal.com published on October 6, 2022, discussing the flood situation in Amaravati shared the viral image. Another Facebook user also shared the image in January 2020.
Hence, the viral image showing Amaravati submerged in flood water is not a recent one, it is from the year 2019. The claim is Misleading.
