Flooding clip from Thailand falsely shared as Cambodia

Published on September 4, 2025 at 11:12
3 min read
By Chayanit ITTHIPONGMAETEE, AFP Thailand

As deadly Typhoon Kajiki swept through parts of Southeast Asia, Thai social media users shared a clip they falsely claimed depicted flooding in neighbouring Cambodia. But the video has been misrepresented and in fact depicts an inundated temple in Thailand's Sukhothai province.

"Heavy flooding in Cambodia. They asked Thailand for help, haha," reads a Thai-language Facebook post shared August 29, 2025.

The accompanying video, which has been viewed more than 800,000 times, shows floodwaters rushing into a temple courtyard.

Khmer-language text has also been overlaid to the clip saying it shows severe flooding.

Screenshot of the false post taken September 2, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

The post circulated as Typhoon Kajiki -- which slammed Vietnam and Laos and killed at least five people in Thailand in late August -- triggered a flash flood alert in parts of Cambodia (archived here and here).

Storm Nongfa subsequently flooded Cambodia's Siem Reap city, according to local media (archived link).

The video also surfaced on Instagram and TikTok in what appears to be part of a continuing social media battle between Thai and Cambodian users after the Southeast Asian neighbours saw five days of border clashes in July (archived link).

"Don't help them. Remember how they insulted the Thai people and Thailand," a user wrote in response to one of the posts.

Another said: "Go ask (former Cambodian leader) Hun Sen for help. You always ask Thailand for everything. We're not helping, got it?"

But a reverse image search using keyframes found a higher-resolution version of the video shared on Facebook on July 26, 2025 with a caption saying it was filmed in Thailand (archived link).

"This morning in Sukhothai. The Yom River overflowed the flood barrier in front of Khuka Suwan Temple, the school where I used to teach before retiring. It's flooding the fresh market. Sending support to everyone there," the Thai-language post reads.

Screenshot comparison between the false Facebook post (L) and the original clip

Google Maps street imagery confirm the location of the clip in north-central Thailand (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of the flooding video (L) and Google Maps Street View of the temple in Sukhothai

A representative at the temple told to AFP on September 2 the video was taken in the area on July 26 (archived link).

Thai media reported on July 26 that Sukhothai city was flooded after a sandbag barrier along the Yom River collapsed (archived here and here).

AFP has previously debunked other misinformation related to the Cambodia-Thailand conflict.

Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.

E-mail