Fact Check: Old picture of Uttarakhand floods falsely linked to heavy rains in Bengaluru

New Delhi (Vishvas News). A picture is being shared on social media with the claim that it is a scene after the heavy rain in Bengaluru. It can be seen in the picture that several cars are half-submerged in water. The viral claim turned out to be misleading in the investigation of Vishvas News. The viral picture has nothing to do with the recent rains in Bengaluru. The photo is from Oct 2021 Uttarakhand floods.

What’s in the viral post?

Facebook user Nagaraju Don Bnr shared the viral picture and wrote, “Double engine government conducted car swimming competition in Bangalore.. Note: No government can stop natural disasters.. It’s the actions you take afterwards that matter.. For those who get dog happiness as soon as it rains in Hyderabad..#bengalorerains”

The archived version of this post can be viewed here.

Investigation

To know the truth of the viral picture, Vishvas News searched this picture on Google reverse image. We found a report on the viral image at www.financialexpress.com. A description with the image read “Submerged cars are seen at a flooded hotel resort as extreme rainfall caused the Kosi River overflow at the Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand. (AP/PTI Photo)”

We also found this picture in a news article on english.alarabiya.net. The description with the picture read “Submerged cars are seen at a flooded hotel resort as extreme rainfall caused the Kosi River to overflow at the Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand, India, Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021. More than 20 people have died and many are missing in floods triggered by heavy rains in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand officials said Tuesday (AP Photo/Mustafa Quraish!)”

Taking the investigation further, we reached out to Sunil Negi, Digital Head, Uttarakhand Dainik Jagran. He confirmed that the picture is of Uttarakhand only. He also shared a news report of Jagran.com about these floods where the scene can be seen from a different angle.

Taking the investigation further, we also contacted Mustafa Qureshi, the photojournalist who took this picture. Although he is not associated with AP anymore. He told us “I had taken this picture in 2021. The picture is of Uttarakhand.”

Vishvas News, in the last phase of the investigation, conducted a background check on the profile that shared the viral post. We found that user Nagaraju Don Bnr is followed by 1577 people.