Old video of Alaskan glacier shared with claims it shows cause of Nepal flood
What was claimed
A video shows the glacier that collapsed and caused the flood in Nepal last month.
Our verdict
False. This footage predates the flood in Nepal and was filmed in Alaska.
Helicopter footage of a glacier in Alaska has been shared online with false claims it shows the glacier that caused last month’s deadly flood in Nepal.
We traced the footage back to a clip posted on Instagram on 21 August, five days before flooding occurred in Nepal after a glacier collapsed. The original footage is captioned as showing the Columbia Glacier in Alaska.
The video was posted by a pilot who frequently shares videos of her helicopter rides over Alaska’s glaciers. She confirmed to fact checkers at AFP and Reuters that the footage was not related to the Nepal flood and shows Alaska.
She also told AFP that she originally recorded the footage in 2024 and reposted it on 21 August 2026.
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Misinformation about significant weather events and natural disasters often spreads quickly on social media, so it’s important to consider whether what you are seeing is genuine before sharing. Our toolkit provides guides on how to verify pictures and videos.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because this footage predates the flood in Nepal and was filmed in Alaska.
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