Posts about India floods share mislabelled Chennai airport video
- Published on August 26, 2025 at 06:31
- 3 min read
- By Masroor GILANI, AFP Pakistan
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"Mumbai Airport Submerged After Heavy Rains, Runways and Plane Parking Bays Underwater," reads an August 20, 2025 Facebook post that shared the video of flooded planes and airport vehicles.
"Torrent!al rains have left Mumbai Airport inundated, with videos showing waterlogged runways and aircraft parking areas completely submerged, disrupting flight operations and stranding passengers."
Similar posts also surfaced on X and TikTok as local media reported Mumbai reeled from heavy monsoon rains, causing transport disruptions in some areas (archived link).
Floods are common during the June-September monsoon season, but experts say climate change, coupled with poorly planned development, is increasing their frequency, severity and impact.
India has already seen two deadly flooding disasters in August, killing more than 100 people in the country's northern Himalayan region (archived link).
However, the video shared in the posts was not filmed in Mumbai.
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes led to a longer version published on the verified YouTube channel of news organisation The Federal on December 4, 2023 (archived link).
"Watch: Chennai airport flooded due to Cyclone Michaung," reads part of its caption.
"Chennai International Airport was submerged in water. Flights were halted until 11 pm due to Cyclone Michaung. The cyclone has created chaos, bringing life in Chennai to a standstill," adds its description.
The falsely shared video corresponds to the first 25 seconds of the clip published by The Federal.
Indian media outlets News 18 and Business Standard also embedded the clip and published screenshots of it in reports about the floods in Chennai (archived here and here).
A yellow signboard seen at the start of the clip shows GPS coordinates that say 12°59′59″N, 80°09′47.686″E.
AFP entered the coordinates on Google Maps, which led to the Chennai International Airport (archived link).
AFP has debunked more falsely shared visuals of the deadly monsoon flooding in India and neighbouring Pakistan here, here and here.
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