These Flood Footages from Rambukkana Occurred in 2021, Not Recently!

දිනපතා සත්‍ය කරුණු දැන ගැනීමට අපගේ WhatsApp සමුහයටමෙතනින් එකතුවන්න.

After experiencing a prolonged drought period, several parts of Sri Lanka received continuous rainfall in the past week, leading to rising water levels in reservoirs and other water bodies. Consequently, various videos have emerged depicting the floods which have resulted from heavy rainfalls. However, in such situations, there is a resurgence of older videos as well, and we investigated to clarify the accuracy and context of such footage going viral as a recent event.

Social Media Posts

A viral video circulating on social media claims to show a recently flooded railway line in Rambukkana, Sri Lanka.

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We have noticed many such videos on Facebook as well as on TikTok.

We decided to do a fact-check on this.

Fact Check

We verified this information using the Invid-We Verify tool, which allowed us to trace the origin and date of the video.

The same video was shared back in 2021 and can be watched below.

The video captured on November 09, 2021, shows the submerged railway line between Rambukkana - Polgahawela due to the overflowing of Maha Oya and the video taken from a train travelling from Rambukkana to Fort.

Some instances of the same footage from November 2021 can be reached here and here.

Additionally, we contacted the station master of Rambukkana railway station, who confirmed that there had been no recent flooding incident in the area and no significant rainfall. Furthermore, he also identified that the viral video is related to the 2021 floods and not a recent event.

However, there have been severe rains in several parts of the island recently, and several areas, especially around Colombo, were flooded, as seen here.

Read this story in Sinhala here.

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Conclusion

The viral video is unrelated to the recent flooding event due to heavy rainfalls experienced in Sri Lanka. The footage relates to floods from November 2021 when the railway line between Rambukkana - Polgahawela was submerged due to the overflowing of Maha Oya.

Verifying information before sharing it on social media is essential to prevent the spread of misleading or outdated content.