Fact Check: Viral Punjab-Haryana Flood Photo Is Actually from Bihar 2017
Relentless rain across Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Punjab, and Haryana has killed at least 500 people this monsoon, with
Bihar 2017 floods
Relentless rain across Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Punjab, and Haryana has killed at least 500 people this monsoon, with fresh landslides, flash floods, and collapsing houses claiming dozens more lives. Highways are blocked, rivers are above the danger mark, crops flattened, and thousands are stranded as rain continues to pound the region. The AAP government declared all of Punjab’s 23 districts as flood-hit. A total of 1,400 villages have been deluged, displacing 3.54 lakh people, according to Punjab Revenue Minister Hardeep Singh Mundian. The government machinery has been undertaking rescue and relief operations across the state. The water levels in the Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej rivers are dangerously high, with concerns over potential embankment breaches.
Amidst this, an image showing a man trying to save foodgrains from getting wet, while swimming neck-deep in the flood water, is shared on social media with the claim that it shows the flood situation in Punjab-Haryana. The caption shared along with the image is “सैटलाइट से सिर्फ धुंआ दिखता है, तबाह होती हरियाणा की फसल और डूबता पंजाब नहीं दिखता साहब। वाहेगुरु मेहर करी “, when translated it claims “Only smoke is visible from the satellite, The devastated crops of Haryana and the submerging Punjab are not visible, sir. Waheguru's grace”
Here is the archive link of the claim.
Fact check:
The claim is False. The image seen in the viral posts is not a recent one; it is from the floods that occurred in Bihar in 2017.
When we searched the image using reverse image search, we found that the image was published in various news articles. According to the Indian Express, which shared the same image, over 73 lakh people have been affected by the Bihar floods. So far, 72 people have died. Unconfirmed reports put the death toll at over 100. The Bihar government has set up 504 relief camps in which over one lakh flood victims have taken shelter, an official said. An official of the state disaster management department admitted that there were thousands more who had been displaced and were living under the open sky.
Bihar Disaster Management Department Principal Secretary Pratyaya Amrit said: “We have already sped up relief and will be providing polythene sheets to flood victims… We are providing dry rations including rice, potato, pulse, black gram, and match boxes.”
A news article published in National Herald India, on August 20, 2017, also shares the same image.
Hindustan Times also shared the same image in an article published on August 16, 2017. The article states that the image in circulation is a scene from the flood-hit Araria district of north-eastern Bihar. Owing to the alarming situation caused by the flash floods, the state government pressed in 50 rescue teams comprising columns of the Army, NDRF, and SDRF, which included around 2,100 trained personnel, in the affected districts, along with 272 boats for evacuation to the nearest relief centres.
Hence, the viral image is not recent, showing the flood situation of Punjab and Haryana; it shows the flood situation of Bihar in August 2017. The claim is False.