Old Video of Flooding Outside College in Tamil Nadu Passed Off as Recent

The video has been available on the internet since December 2023 and is not recent.

Fact-Check | The video is old and does not show present situation at the Satyabhama Engineering College.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video which shows several people walking through a waterlogged road is being shared on the internet as recent visuals from the Sathyabama University in Tamil Nadu's Chennai.

Who shared it?: Along with other users, media outlets like ET Now and India Today NE shared the same video on their social media handles.

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)

The post gained over seven lakh views on the platform, when this report was being written. Archives of similar claims can be seen here, here, and here.

What is the truth?: These visuals could be traced back to December 2023 and reportedly shows flooding outside the university due to the Cyclone Michaung.

What led us to the truth?: We conducted a keyword search using the words 'Sathyabama University flood' on YouTube and came across a video published on an unverified channel named 'muskansingh vlogs'.

• It was posted on 15 December 2023 with a title that said, "@sathyabama flood 2023..... Chennai @Michaung."

Comparing visuals: On comparing keyframes from the viral video to the visuals available on the YouTube clip, we found that both of them were from the same incident.

A comparison clearly highlights the similarities.

A comparison clearly highlights the similarities.

Other sources: We performed a reverse image search on the keyframes of the video and found similar visuals posted on an Instagram handle called 'sathyabama_poragallu'.

• One can see the same blue fencing in the background as seen in the viral video.

Tamil Nadu Fact Check Unit debunks the claim: The fact-checking unit of the state government clarified on their official X handle saying that the video is from the Sathyabama University and dates back to 2023.

• The post asked people to refrain from spreading rumours.

Conclusion: It is clear that the video is old and dates back to 2023.

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