Video depicts old disaster clips, not Toronto flooding

Published on July 25, 2024 at 19:27
3 min read
By Gwen ROLEY, AFP Canada

A major storm inundated portions of Toronto on July 16, 2024, but an online video compilation showing vehicles swept away by floodwaters is unrelated. Much of the footage predates the disaster and is from other locations.

"#Toronto floods today #toronto #canada," says the caption of a July 18, 2024 Facebook video with more than 1.7 million plays.

The same collection of footage purporting to show Toronto has appeared elsewhere on Facebook, TikTok and YouTube, racking up tens of thousands more views.

Screenshot of a Facebook video taken July 24, 2024

The clip, which depicts several inundated city roads, purports to show the impact of a July 16 storm that knocked out power, flooded streets and affected numerous structures in Toronto -- including the mansion of Canadian rapper Drake.

Local media shared genuine footage of the flooding on July 16 and 17.

However, using reverse image search and geolocation, AFP found many of the social media clips are dated and show floods in different places.

Some social media users pointed out that the first clip, which appears as the thumbnail for many of the posts, shows a street lined with palm trees -- indicating it may not have been filmed in a city as far north as Toronto.

The footage has been online since at least 2023 (archived here). Several other palm tree clips in the compilation are frequently recycled in posts claiming to show floods in different locations, but they all predate the storm in Toronto.

Another clip shows proximate Circle K and Chevron gas stations. AFP geolocated them to a corner in southeastern Las Vegas, which saw heavy flooding in September 2023 (archived here).

A video shared on YouTube around the same time shows the same flooded street corner (archived here).

Screenshot of a TikTok taken July 24, 2024, with elements highlighted by AFP

Screenshot from Google Maps taken July 24, 2024, with elements highlighted by AFP

A third segment of the video compilation depicts what appears to be a location of the Japanese mall chain AEON. AFP was unable to locate the precise location of that segment, but according to analytics company Global Data, the retailer operates throughout Asia and the Pacific -- but does not have locations in Canada (archived here).

Screenshot of a TikTok taken July 24, 2024

AFP has previously fact-checked images and videos misrepresented as other natural disasters.

Local media reported Toronto faced further inundation after more heavy rainfall on July 24.

Read more of AFP's reporting on misinformation in Canada here.

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