Social media users have shared an old video of a house in China collapsing under floodwaters, falsely claiming that the video was filmed during the deadly floods that hit northern Thailand in September 2024. The video was previously circulated in Chinese reports published four years ago.
“I’m sorry for your loss. It took a long time to build the house. I saw this and cried,” read a caption from one TikTok Post published on September 17, 2024, along with several hashtags including #ChiangRaiFlood and #FloodsinNorthernThailand2024.
The post shared a 14-second video of a house being engulfed by floodwaters and collapsing.
It has been viewed more than 520,000 times.
The false claim started circulating after northern Thailand was severely hit by flash floods. Typhoon Yagi tore through Southeast Asia, leaving more than 500 dead (archived link).
The kingdom’s northern provinces were hit hard, with one district reporting its worst flooding in 80 years.
The video with the same false claim was shared on Facebook, YouTube And TikTok.
However, the video has been circulating since July 2020 and shows a house destroyed by floods in eastern China.
Floods in China
Using a reverse search on Google and Baidu, AFP was able to trace the video to news reports and social media posts about floods in China in July 2020.
Dossier floods hit large parts of central and eastern China at the time, leaving more than 140 people dead or missing (archived link).
State-run China News Service (CNS) the clip published in a report dated July 9, 2020 entitled: “A building in Poyang, Jiangxi, destroyed in an instant by floods“(archived link).
“About 710mm of heavy rain in Poyang County, Shangrao City, Jiangxi Province in recent days has caused a dike in Wengguidao to collapse,” the video caption reads. “A large amount of floodwater flowed through and inundated five villages.”
Below is a screenshot of a comparison between the fake TikTok post (left) and the China News Service report (right):
Another Chinese online news outlet, The Paper, also published the same clip on July 9, 2020 in a report on the floods (archived link).
“Three-story building in Poyang Jiangxi destroyed in blink of an eye by floodwaters,” the report’s headline read. “Residents evacuated ahead of incident.”
The same video was also shared virally on Chinese video platform Bilibili in July 2020, where user comments linked the video to floods in Poyang (archived link).
AFP has debunked misinformation about flooding in northern Thailand here.