Extreme floods in southern China’s Guangdong province claimed the lives of 4 individuals and compelled the evacuation of greater than 100,000 in April 2024, nevertheless, on-line posts have shared outdated pictures of document flooding there in 2022. The sooner disaster left some Chinese language cities submerged by floodwaters and compelled tons of of hundreds of individuals to evacuate.
“April 20, the city of Hanguang in Yingde county, Guangdong,” learn the simplified Chinese language caption of an X put up shared on April 23, 2024.
The put up included 4 pictures exhibiting buildings submerged in muddy floodwaters.
Greater than 45,000 individuals have been evacuated from Yingde, a county in northern Guangdong’s Qingyuan metropolis that sits on the low-lying Pearl River Delta, official media reported on April 21, 2024, after days of torrential rains triggered landslides and extreme flooding throughout the province.
By April 24, the “as soon as a century” deluge had claimed the lives of 4 individuals and compelled the evacuation of 100,000, as authorities warned of extra rain to come back within the week that adopted.
The extreme floods are nearly unprecedented so early within the yr even in lush, subtropical Guangdong, with one senior official linking them to worsening local weather change.
The photographs have been shared repeatedly on-line throughout posts on X and Fb, in addition to on Taiwanese information website Newtalk.
However the pictures date again to June 2022.
2022 Guangdong floods
Reverse picture searches on Google discovered the primary picture was credited to the Chinese language picture company Visible China Group (VCG) and distributed by Getty Photos on June 22, 2022 (archived hyperlink).
The caption learn: “Aerial view of a flood-hit township after torrential rains on June 22, 2022 in Yingde, Qingyuan Metropolis, Guangdong Province of China. Flood management authority of China’s Guangdong Province activated a Stage-I emergency response on Tuesday.”
File floods compelled tons of of hundreds of individuals to evacuate elements of southern China in June 2022, as heavy rains pushed water ranges within the Pearl River Delta — house to financial powerhouses Guangzhou and Shenzhen — to their highest in virtually a century, AFP reported.
Beneath is a screenshot comparability of the picture within the false posts (left) and the {photograph} credited to (VCG)(proper):
The identical picture was additionally utilized in reviews by China Nationwide Emergency Broadcasting (CNEB) and nationwide broadcaster CCTV (archived hyperlinks right here and right here).
The second picture — which reveals a submerged tower and different buildings — was printed on June 22, 2022 by the Southern Metropolis Every day newspaper (archived hyperlink).
The report acknowledged that the Wenfeng Tower, a Yingde landmark and vacationer attraction, was submerged together with low-lying homes close to the Bei River (archived hyperlink).
Beneath is a screenshot comparability of the picture within the false posts (left) and the picture printed by the Southern Metropolis Every day (proper):
AFP situated the Wenfeng Tower on Google Maps and located a corresponding picture of it printed by the native authorities (archived hyperlinks right here and right here).
Beneath is a screenshot comparability of the image printed by the Southern Metropolis Every day (left) and the one printed by the native authorities (proper):
The third image within the posts additionally reveals the Wenfeng Tower surrounded by floodwaters.
It was printed by China Nationwide Radio (CNR) on June 21, 2022, in a report about native authorities’ floodwater stage predictions for the southern Chinese language metropolis of Qingyuan (archived hyperlink).
Beneath is a screenshot comparability of the third picture within the false posts (left) and the picture printed by CNR (proper):
The final picture — which reveals a hillside township submerged in muddy water — included a watermark for Guangdong’s state-run newspaper Nanfang Every day.
AFP discovered it was printed by the paper right here on June 23, 2022 in a report concerning the flood rescue efforts in Guangdong’s Yingde county (archived hyperlink).
In response to the caption, the picture reveals flooding in Yinghong township, central Yingde (archived hyperlink).
Beneath is a screenshot comparability of the picture within the false posts (left) and the picture printed by Nanfang Every day (proper):
Flooding throughout China’s moist season is usually lethal and infrequently spawns a surge of disinformation, debunked beforehand by AFP right here, right here and right here.