Kenya: No, Video Doesn’t Show Flooded Valley in Kenya

No, video doesn’t show flooded valley in Kenya – it’s from Saudi Arabia

IN SHORT: Kenya has been hit by heavy rains in 2024, resulting in flooding. But this video of a flooded valley was filmed in Saudi Arabia, not Kenya as claimed online.

“Flooding in Kenya.” That’s the text overlaid on a video circulating on social media in Kenya.

It shows a massive flood, with a white vehicle being swept downstream in a valley. Some houses and trees can also be seen.

One user claimed the footage was from Mai Mahiu, a town located about 45 kilometres from Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. Others said the video was taken in Kenya, but did not specify where in the country.

Since March 2024, Kenya has been experiencing heavy rainfall, causing flooding and landslides in some parts of the country. The death toll was estimated to be at 291 in May, while more rain was forecast for June. Mai Mahiu was one of the hardest-hit areas, recording at least 50 deaths.

But was the video filmed in Kenya? We checked.

The footage shows floods in Saudi Arabia

We ran keyframes from the video through Google Lens to determine its origin. The search revealed that these images have been circulating online since the end of March.

The video was originally posted on 31 March by a verified X (formerly Twitter) account named Al-Bahah Weather, which describes itself as “a specialised team of weather condition analysts and rain science observers in the Al-Bahah region and all regions of the Kingdom”.

The account said the video showed flooding in Wadi Al-Hubbara, a valley in the Al-Bahah region of south-west Saudi Arabia.

Using this information, we found that the Saudi National Center for Meteorology had issued a red alert for adverse weather conditions in the region on 30 March, a day before the video first appeared online.

The Al-Bahah government and the Saudi civil defense also posted videos of floods in the area, but from different angles. The architectural elements in these videos match those in the viral footage and Google Maps photos.

The claim that the video shows flooding in Kenya is false. It shows flooding in the southwest region of Saudi Arabia.

The false claim can also be seen here, here, here, here and here.