In May and June 2024, some parts of Italy experienced flash floods, leading to overflowing rivers (here, here, here, & here). In this context, a set of visuals is being circulated, claimed to be from these floods (here, here, here, & here). Through this article, let’s verify the veracity of these visuals.
Claim: Visuals showing the floods that affected Italy in May & June of 2024.
Fact: These visuals are old and not related to the recent floods that occurred in Italy in May and June of 2024. Some of these visuals are from Japan, while others depict floods in Turkey and Saudi Arabia. These are old and unrelated to the recent floods. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
Recently, in May and June of 2024, some parts of Italy experienced flash floods. However, the viral visuals do not depict these recent floods in Italy. These visuals are old and unrelated to Italy; some are from Japan, while others depict floods in Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Let’s examine each video clip below:
Video Clip 1:
These visuals are from the floods that hit Japan in July 2021. A reverse image search of these viral visuals led us to several news reports (here, here, here, here, & here) from 2021, which confirmed that these visuals are of the floods that affected the coastal city of Atami, southwest of Tokyo, Japan.
Video Clip 2:
These visuals are from the floods that hit Saudi Arabia in December 2022. A reverse image search of these viral visuals led us to several news reports published in 2022, featuring similar visuals of cars being swept away in floods (here, here, here, here, and here), which confirmed that these visuals are of the floods that affected Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Additional news reports about the Saudi floods in 2022 can be seen here.
Video Clip 3:
These visuals are from the floods that hit Turkey in August 2021. A reverse image search of these viral visuals led us to a news report published by The Guardian in 2021 (here, here), featuring similar visuals that confirmed these are from the floods that occurred in Turkey in 2021. Additional news reports about the Turkey floods in 2022 can be seen here, here, and here.
To sum up, old and unrelated videos are being falsely shared as visuals of the recent floods in Italy in 2024.
