Claim: Footage shows a flood wreaked havoc in Dubai after the inauguration of a Hindu temple.
Fact: The footage, which comprises scenes from five different instances, is from 2023. It does not show Dubai. Moreover, reports of flooding surfaced on 12 February 2024, before the 14 February inauguration of a Hindu temple.
On 17 February 2024, the Facebook page ‘Islamic Life’ posted (archive) a video showing the destruction left in the wake of recent floods in Dubai after the construction and inauguration of a Hindu temple in the metropolis.
“مندر کے افتتاح کے بعد جدید ترقی یافتہ دبئی کے اب یہ حالات ہیں
Dubai after inauguration of hindu mandir”
“[These are the conditions in the modern developed Dubai after the opening of a temple
Dubai after inauguration of hindu mandir]”
The video comprises five clips, all of which allegedly show Dubai after the Hindu temple’s construction and inauguration.
The Hindu temple — called Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) — in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) was inaugurated (archive) by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 14 February 2024 days before it opened to the public. Multiple Indian outlets reported the event here, here, here, and here.
The BAPS Hindu Mandir in Abu Dhabi “is reportedly the first one to be built using traditional techniques”, is “made from pink sandstone from Rajasthan state and white Italian marble”, and “was carved in India and assembled in Dubai”, according to a BBC report (archive).
Two days prior to the inauguration, Dubai was flooded after heavy rains on 12 February 2024, leading to blocked streets and trapped cars “as drainage systems were unable to cope with the downpour”, according to a euronews report (archive).
“A red and amber alert was released by the National Center of Meteorology (NCM)” in this regard, Gulf News reported (archive) and, as per a Sky News report (archive), schools and businesses were encouraged “to switch to remote learning and work”.
The National and Khaleej Times also reported on the same here and here (respective archives here and here). The Associated Press has released footage (archive) of the flooding too.
Fact or Fiction?
Using reverse image search tools, we found that all five clips existed on the Internet much before the recent floods in Dubai.
The first of the five different clips is from China. It was uploaded here on TikTok on 1 August 2023 with the caption, “Catastrophic flooding in Beijing, China after typhoon remnants drop nearly a year’s worth of rain.”
A Sky News video report titled, “Typhoon Doksuri: Roads turn into rivers after one of the strongest storms in years hits China”, published on the same day, further corroborates the event.
The second clip has been posted multiple times in the past and linked to different cities every time. For example, it was linked to Dubai on 20 November and 1 December 2023, referred to as a scene from New York City on 3 October 2023, and claims to show Hong Kong in a TikTok post from 9 September 2023.
When Soch Fact Check explored the possible origins of the video further through Google Lens, we found an article by Fast Check CL, a Chilean media start-up accredited by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), of which Soch Fact Check is also a signatory. Fast Check CL was able to narrow it down to China through a video posted by TikTok user @hnews on 7 September 2023.
Soch Fact Check was able to find the third video posted on TikTok on 11 November 2023 that claims to show the scene of a flood in Saudi Arabia.
The fourth clip was posted online as early as 2 August 2023, wherein user @hnews stated that it shows Zhuozhou, a city in China.
The fifth clip appears to be from Turkey. Multiple posts from September and October 2023 — such as this, this, this, and this — link it to the Mecidiyeköy neighbourhood in Istanbul, Turkey. This was also corroborated by a YouTube video posted by CGTN Türk on 29 September 2023.
Virality
The video by the Facebook page ‘Islamic Life’ has been viewed over 1.5 million times, as of writing time.
Soch Fact Check also found two Facebook posts here and here that have garnered more than 73,000 and 8,200 views. The clip was also posted as a Reel here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
On X (formerly Twitter), the video was shared here, gaining upwards of 20,800 views.
Conclusion: The footage, which comprises scenes from five different instances, is from 2023 and does not show Dubai. Moreover, reports of flooding surfaced on 12 February 2024, before the Hindu temple — referred to in the viral claim — was inaugurated in Abu Dhabi on 14 February.
Background image in cover photo: Christoph Schulz
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