Video of river in northern China falsely linked to flooding in Thailand and Laos

"Breaking! China released water into the Mekong River. We must prepare for floods in many Thai provinces," read the Thai-language caption to a video shared on X on August 26, 2024.

The video, which was shared more than 10,000 times, shows a fast-flowing river that cuts through a city.

Text superimposed on the video reads, "Dam burst in China. Water flooded into Thailand and Laos".

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Screenshot of the false X post, captured on September 6, 2024

The video circulated online after flash floods caused by heavy monsoon rains in Thailand and Laos in late August 2024 (archived links here and here).

Thailand's Ministry of Health said at least 30 people had been killed (archived link).

Similar posts claiming China had caused flooding in Thailand were also shared here and here, as well as in Japanese posts here and here, and in Chinese here.

The Mekong River flows through several countries, including southwest China, Thailand and Laos, but the clip circulating online shows a different river in northern China that flooded in weeks earlier.

Luo River flood

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to the same footage in a compilation posted on content aggregator NetEase (archived link).

Its simplified Chinese caption said it shows floodwaters near Yan'an, in northern China's Shaanxi province, on August 9.

AFP geolocated the clip to a bridge over the Luo River in the province's Ganquan county (archived link).

Below are screenshot comparisons between the falsely shared video (left) and Google Earth images of Ganquan county (right) with corresponding elements highlighted by AFP:

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Screenshot comparisons between the falsely shared video (left) and Google Earth images of Ganquan county (right)

According to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, the flooding -- a result of rainfall between August 6 and August 9 -- was the worst the Luo River had experienced since 1994 (archived link).

Separate water basins

Pianporn Deetes, country director for Thailand and Myanmar at the NGO International Rivers, told AFP the Luo River does not connect to the Mekong River Basin.

"It's a completely separate basin," she said.

The Mekong Dam Monitor project website charts the path of the Mekong River into Laos and Thailand from southwestern China (archived link).

Below is a screenshot of a graphic on the Mekong Dam Monitor website, with the location where the falsely shared video was filmed highlighted by AFP:

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Screenshot of a graphic on the Mekong Dam Monitor website, with the location where the falsely shared video was filmed highlighted by AFP

There have also been no official reports of a dam bursting in China in August 2024.

Ormbun Thipsuna, a leader of the Northeast Community Network in Seven Provinces of Mekong River Basin (ComNet Mekong), told AFP on September 9, "The latest dam breach in China was in July and had no impact on the Mekong River" (archived link).

The claim was earlier debunked by Thailand's government-run Anti-Fake News Center, which said there were "no news reports whatsoever of a Chinese dam bursting" (archived link).

AFP debunked a similar claim about flooding in Thailand caused by a Chinese dam bursting here.