Fact Check: These Images Do Not Show the Recent Floods in Telangana
Amid the ongoing severe rainfall in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, which has led to devastating floods claiming over 35 lives, images of a damaged road and a rescue operation have gone viral. These images are being circulated with claims that they depict the recent flooding in Telangana, with some users criticising the Telangana Congress government.
One user on X (formerly Twitter) shared the images, questioning why those who criticized Gujarat's flood-hit roads were silent on the situation in Telangana. Another user claimed that the damaged road was in Telangana, suggesting that the state's governance was to blame.
However, a fact check by NewsMeter has revealed that these claims are false.
Image 1: The Damaged Road
A reverse image search of the damaged road image led to a report by the Telugu daily Eenadu on September 2, which confirmed that the image is from Andhra Pradesh. The report stated that continuous heavy rains led to the breaching of canals and roads in Gannavaram and Unguturu mandals, located in the Krishna and West Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh. The road was washed away by floodwaters, affecting the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel in the area.
Further verification showed the image shared by the X and Facebook accounts of the Krishna district collector. The posts confirmed that the damaged road was in Kondapavuluru Village of Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh, where the main approach road was cut off, halting traffic.
Faizan Ahmed, additional collector of Telangana’s Nirmal district, also clarified on social media that the damaged road was located in Andhra Pradesh, not Telangana.
Image 2: The Rescue Operation
The second image, showing a rescue operation on a boat in a submerged locality, was found to be an older image from Telangana. A reverse image search revealed that this image was featured in a 2020 report by Scroll, which credited it to Mongabay, an American conservation news web portal. The image depicted the Hyderabad Disaster Response Force (DRF) team conducting a rescue operation in a submerged area of Hyderabad during a previous flood event.
Mongabay published the image in a report dated November 2, 2020, further confirming that it was not related to the recent flooding.
The viral images do not depict the recent flooding in Telangana. The image of the damaged road is from Andhra Pradesh, while the image of the rescue operation, though from Telangana, is from 2020. The claims circulating on social media are therefore false.