Posts misrepresent old flooding footage as monsoon rains lash India

As torrential monsoon rains in India’s northeast triggered landslides and deadly floods, a video was shared in social media posts falsely claiming it showed the destruction caused by a deluge in Assam’s state capital Guwahati. The video in fact shows flooding in a different state, Himachal Pradesh, in July 2023.

“Scary Scenes at Gauhati, Pray for Assam,” reads the caption of a Facebook video shared on June 3, 2025, using an alternative spelling for Assam’s state capital Guwahati.

“Guwahati” is also superimposed over the video, which shows a raging torrent ripping down street-side stalls.

It surfaced after flash floods and landslides triggered by annual monsoon rains in India’s northeast states killed at least 30 people, including eight in Assam (archived link).

India’s annual monsoon season from June to September offers respite from the intense summer heat and is crucial for replenishing water supplies, but also brings widespread death and destruction.

Scores of people die each year during the rainy season due to flash floods and landslides across the country of 1.4 billion people.

The same video was also shared in similar Instagram and X posts.

Several low-lying areas of Guwahati were recently flooded, with hundreds of families forced to abandon homes to seek shelter elsewhere, but the video circulating online was filmed nearly two years earlier (archived link).

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to the same footage posted on Instagram on September 8, 2024 (archived link).

Its caption reads, “Sainj valley flood 09/07/2023”. The Sainj valley is in Himachal Pradesh state’s Kullu district (archived link).

AFP reported in July 2023 that torrential downpours washed away vehicles, demolished buildings and tore down bridges in Himachal Pradesh, the state worst affected by relentless monsoon rains at the time (archived link).

The same Instagram account also posted a similar video of the flooding in the same area on July 9, 2023 (archived link).

The user told AFP on June 15, 2025: “As far as I remember, the video is approximately two years old, from around the time there was a massive flood in the Sainj Valley.”

Moreover, a photo sent from the valley by an AFP reporter includes similar elements to those seen in the circulating video.

AFP has previously debunked other false claims related to India’s monsoon season.