Edited photo does not show Kenyans travelling by boat in flood-stricken Nairobi

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At least 13 people have died from flash floods in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, after torrential rains caused chaos across the city, blocking roads and engulfing homes in slum districts. A recent image shared on social media and by news outlets purportedly shows Kenyans using boats on a flooded road in Nairobi. But the claim is false: the image has been created by combining two old pictures.

“Don’t tell me this is Nairobi City having boats right now at Ngara along Thika road,” reads a post published on X on April 24, 2024.

A screenshot of the false post, taken on April 25, 2024

Liked more than 965 times, the post was published by an account that regularly shares Kenya-related content. 

The post includes an image of people seemingly navigating a boat and a stand-up paddle board along a flooded road.  

The photo was widely shared on X and Facebook, and by a Kenyan-based news outlet (archived here).

Kenya and other countries in East Africa -- a region highly vulnerable to climate change -- have been pounded by heavier than usual rainfall during the current rainy season, with several hundred deaths also reported in neighbouring Tanzania (archived here).

While some users suggest the image is edited, others express frustrations that the Kenyan government is not doing enough to help those impacted by the floods.

“We cannot keep living like this,” reads one comment.

“It’s the drainage system coupled with the wanton felling of trees and human settlements along the riverbanks/riverine. Rectify this situation…!,” says another.

But although floods inundated Nairobi, this image is old and was edited to include the boats.

Edited photo

Using a reverse image search, AFP Fact Check found the original photo posted by Kenyan television channel Citizen TV in December 2019. 

A comparison of the false post (left) and Citizen TV’s 2019 post

In the original image, there are no boats along the flooded roadway. 

Flooding hit Kenya in December 2019, leading the international community to send humanitarian assistance to the impacted areas (archived here). 

AFP Fact Check also used a reverse image search to track down the image of the four men in a boat to an unrelated article about fishermen on Lake Victoria, located approximately 380 kilometres from Kenya's capital (archived here). 

A comparison of the false post (left) and a March 2024 news article

The fishing vessel in the false post bears the same name as the one seen in the People Daily news article, and the four men wear the same clothing.

AFP Fact Check has debunked other false claims about the flooding in Nairobi, which you can read about here.

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