Video of camels struggling in water torrent wasn’t filmed during recent Dubai floods

A video of camels struggling in a torrent of water has been shared widely on the social media platform Threads, alongside claims it was filmed during recent flooding in Dubai. 

The clip shows what appears to be a desert environment covered in rushing water. A group of camels can be seen struggling against the current, including at least one camel that has been knocked over. 

The video is captioned with overlaid text, which reads: “The other side of Dubai. The desert. Animals in the flood.”

But this footage wasn’t taken during the recent Dubai floods. 

Reverse image searches show that it has been circulating online for more than five years, and was likely filmed in Saudi Arabia in 2018.

Full Fact found a longer version of the video shared on Instagram in October 2018 by a Puerto Rican meteorologist, who captioned the post (translated from Spanish): “Heavy rains in Tabouk, Saudi Arabia have caused a significant flood of this river. The camels faced great challenges.”

Although we can’t be certain this is where the video first originated, this description  appears to match contemporaneous news reports of heavy rainfall in northern Saudi Arabia. Misleading pictures and videos like these are common in the wake of a major news story, and fact checking them is a big part of our work fighting misinformation online. 

It’s important to check that what you’re seeing online is genuine before sharing it. There are lots of resources out there to help—including our own guides to checking misleading images and videos.