Widespread video compilations misrepresent old visuals as Texas flood scenes
- Published on July 10, 2025 at 20:55
- 18 min read
- By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA
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"July 4, 2025. Catastrophic flooding occurring across portions of the Texas Hill Country," says text over a TikTok video shared July 5, 2025 to X.
The post, which claims to show the Guadalupe River, cuts between dramatic videos of surging waters barrelling across landscapes and cities, washing away cars and rushing into buildings.
A second TikTok video shared by the same X user shows several similar clips, with a text overlay saying they are also scenes from the "floods in Texas."
The video compilations -- and the clips contained within them -- rocketed across platforms after more than 120 people, including at least 27 girls and counselors from a youth summer camp, were killed as catastrophic floods tore through Texas during the 2025 Fourth of July holiday.
But the 14 videos are old and unrelated to the disaster in the southern border state, AFP determined using a combination of reverse image searches, keyword searches and geolocation. Several of them were also flipped horizontally or sped up.
China, September 2024
Reverse image searches surfaced the first video from the compilation on the video-licensing websites ViralBear and Newsflare (archived here and here).
The two sites described the footage as showing people fleeing the overflowing Qiantang River -- known for its powerful tidal bore -- in China's Zhejiang province on September 25, 2024.
Pakistan, July 2024
The second video has been online since at least July 19, 2024, when a Facebook user posted it alongside a caption saying it showed a valley in Chitral, Pakistan, an area prone to monsoons (archived here).
Indonesia, March 2025
The third video is a mirrored version of footage that shows a flash flood near the Puncak mountain pass of Bogor Regency, Indonesia, according the TikTok user who originally uploaded it March 2, 2025 (archived here). The user's caption also mentions the Ciliwung River, a prominent waterway in the area.
@wasky134 innaillahiwainnailahiroziun #puncakbogor#ciliwung#masukberanda#fypシ゚♬ suara asli - Wasky13
ViralBear and Newsflare have both licensed the clip (archived here and here).
A separate video available via Newsflare and CNN Indonesia shows additional angles of the floodwaters rushing past the same building -- identifiable by its unique black and yellow railings (archived here and here). Newsflare's description further specifies that the footage was captured in the town of Cisarua.
AFP reporting from March 4 said rain caused the Ciliwung river to overflow, affecting 1,446 people from 224 houses in one village alone, according to Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency.
Mexico, June 2025
The fourth clip is a flipped version of footage that has circulated online since at least June 16, 2025, when several accounts posted it and said it captured a flash flood uprooting vehicles in the Menchaca neighborhood of Querétaro, Mexico (archived here, here, here and here).
Una camioneta de Izzi fue arrastrada por la corriente en la colonia Menchaca. #AlMomento#Lluvias#Querétaro. pic.twitter.com/6fLiHdczjE
— Update Me (@updateme_news) June 16, 2025
AFP geolocated the footage to Calle Río Culiacán, where Google Street View imagery shows the same buildings, walls and gates (archived here).
Belgium, July 2021
The fifth clip is an inverted version of footage that originated with a July 15, 2021 Facebook post saying it showed the Place du Martyr in Verviers, Belgium (archived here). The video-licensing agency Storyful also shared the footage (archived here).
Google Street View imagery shows the same buildings and monument, further confirming the location (archived here).
Hitchcock, Texas, July 2024
The sixth recording dates to July 8, 2024 and shows Hitchcock, Texas as Hurricane Beryl battered the Gulf Coast and brought flooding to the area, according to Newsflare and ViralHog, another video-licensing service (archived here and here).
AFP geolocated the footage to Bayou Drive, where the same shed, boat and surrounding homes are visible via Google Street View (archived here).
Florida, September 2024
The seventh video, of water bursting into a stairwell, was first posted to TikTok September 30, 2024 (archived here). The poster's caption says it shows Hurricane Helene, which made landfall September 26 of that year, hitting Opal Sands Resort in Clearwater, Florida.
@zuelyzzrivera Hotel Opal Sands at Clearwater Beach. Hurricane Helene #helene#hurricanehelene#huracan#clearwaterbeach♬ original sound - ZuelyzzRivera
The same user uploaded other videos of the flooding outside the hotel (archived here and here). Google Street View imagery shows the same exterior, verifying the location (archived here).
The hotel shared an announcement on Facebook weeks later that it was reopened following Helene and Hurricane Milton, which devastated Florida just two weeks apart. AFP reached out to the Opal Collection hotel group for comment, but no response was forthcoming.
Marshall Islands, January 2024
The eighth video -- the first in the second compilation analyzed by AFP -- pulls from footage of a wave crashing through the Outrigger Bar & Grill on Roi-Namur, an island of the Marshall Islands, on January 20, 2024.
The original video, which was sped-up and flipped in the compilation online, appeared on YouTube and was later reposted by Newsflare and ViralBear (archived here, here and here).
Google photos of the restaurant, which is situated on a US Army base, show floodwaters pouring into the same space (archived here).
Fox Weather, Army Times and other outlets covered the incident at the time. The US Army garrison also mentioned the Outrigger Bar & Grill in a statement on the flooding (archived here).
India, December 2023
The ninth video, showing cars swept away by rushing waters, dates to at least December 3, 2023. It has also been accelerated and inverted.
According to an early poster on X and the Times of India, the footage shows Cyclone Michaung whirling through the Pallikarani neighborhood of Chennai, India (archived here and here).
#ChennaiRains#ChennaiFloods Pallikarani (velachery) Be safe pic.twitter.com/8PW74ZNvb7
— Gokul Tamilselvam (@Gokul46978057) December 4, 2023
AFP geolocated the footage to the Purva Windermere apartment complex. Google videos and photos attached to the complex include matching footage, as well as other shots that show the same cars during the December 2023 flooding and pictures that confirm the location (archived here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).
Indonesia, April 2021
The tenth video is a mirrored and sped-up version of a clip shared to Instagram as early as April 4, 2021 in a since-deleted post that said it shows a flood toppling the Kambaniru bridge in Waingapu, Indonesia. The footage also appeared in local news reports about the floods (archived here).
The bridge appears in 2016 imagery available on Google Street View (archived here).
AFP previously debunked false posts claiming the same video showed 2022 floods in the Indian state of Assam.
Likely Nepal, September 2024
AFP could not confirm the origin of the 11th clip, but reverse image searches surfaced several similar videos of rope bridges knocked around by strong waters (archived here, here and here). Each of those posts said the visuals are from Nepal in late September 2024.
Several neighborhoods in Nepal were devastated by pounding rains that left nearly 200 people dead, AFP reported at the time.
Indiana, February 2019
The 12th clip misappropriates -- and sped up and flipped -- a February 7, 2019 video posted to YouTube by ViralHog (archived here).
The clip's description says a family's camper was whisked away by a nearby creek's rising waters in Lawrence County, Indiana. Hannah Lee, the mother of the family who captured the video, told local news the camper was destroyed when the family found it on a neighbor's farm.
Keyword searches turned up the original clip on Lee's Facebook page, where she wrote in a comment that it took place on Popcorn Church Road in Springville, Indiana (archived here).
A National Weather Service storm report for February 7, 2019 recounts a "creek severely out of banks ... flooding peoples yards and flooding vehicles away" in Springville (archived here).
Spain, September 2023
Reverse image searches for keyframes in the 13th clip turned up a nearly identical shot published by ABC News and other media organizations documenting floods that hit L'Ametlla de Mar, a municipality in Spain, in September 2023 (archived here, here and here).
The compilation's version is also inverted, and appears to have been quickened.
Based on a storefront visible in the footage, AFP geolocated the scene to Carrer Sant Roc (archived here).
North Carolina, October 2024
The 14th video has also been flipped and accelerated, with the original footage tracing to an October 2, 2024 YouTube video describing it as showing the impact of Hurricane Helene on Avery County, North Carolina (archived here).
The same user also posted a longer video that, in addition to capturing the same garage and red truck from another angle, shows her driving through the county to survey the damage (archived here).
The longer footage includes shots of a gas station, Dollar General store and other locations that AFP geolocated to Avery County, verifying the location (archived here, here and here).
AFP then matched the original video to Google Street View imagery of a nearby home off Three Mile Highway in Newland, North Carolina (archived here).
AFP has debunked other misinformation about the floods in Texas here.
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