At least four people were killed and over 5000 were evacuated from Vadodara city, which had received over 20 inches of rainfall for more than 12 hours on Wednesday that caused flooding in the major areas of the city. According to reports, the water level at Ajma dam that is located near Vadodara city of Gujarat has exceeded its warning limit of 215 feet.
On August 1, Gujarati news channel Zee 24 Kalak broadcasted visuals of a dam with an enormous amount of water flowing through the gates. In the broadcast video, the anchor can be heard saying, “Water from 62 gates of Ajwa dam is being released.”
News 18 Gujarati also tweeted the video with the caption, “નાયગ્રા ફોલ ના સમજી લેતા આ વીડિયો છે આજવા ડેમનો (Don’t take the video to be from Niagara falls, it from Ajwa dam -translated)”. The same was also incorporated in a live feed report for rainfall updates in Vadodara.
Several other Facebook users have also shared the video claiming it to be from Ajwa dam.
Twitter user Aravind Chaudhari alerted Alt News about the visuals relayed by the broadcaster being old and unrelated to the Ajwa dam.
Fact-check
Alt News found that the video is actually from Hatnur dam, Maharastra. We found the same video uploaded on July 29, 2019, with the description that 41 gates of Hatnur dam were opened and 2.38 lakh cusec water was released.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1rgM-HzWHk
TV9 Gujaratialso reported the same while relaying these visuals.
More than 2,50,000 cusec water released in Ukai dam from Hatnur dam#Monsoon2019 #TV9News pic.twitter.com/edSf4QUZKY
— Tv9 Gujarati (@tv9gujarati) July 29, 2019
In conclusion, a video of Hatnur dam in Maharashtra was broadcasted as Ajwa dam after heavy rainfall in Vadodara by leading Gujarati media outlets.
