Viral video of overflowing sewer amid recent heavy rains in Karachi

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team investigated this content and determined that it is misleading.

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan conducted a reverse image search to find the original video.

Posts from multiple users on social media platforms since August 20, 2025, shared a video of a bubbling sewer amid the recent heavy rains in Karachi with some mocking the provincial government. However, the footage has been shared as far back as 2024’s rainfall in the city.

Torrential rains since August 19 severely disrupted operations across Karachi, leading to widespread infrastructure collapse and multiple casualties. Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab declared a rain emergency amid warnings of more showers to come.

HOW IT STARTED

On August 20, an X user, who appeared to be a PTI supporter based on their past posts, shared a video showing rainwater mixed with sewerage gushing out from an overflowing manhole onto the street.

The post was captioned: “Just In: Huge oil reserves discovered in Karachi”.

The post was viewed by 44,000 users.

The video with the same claim was shared here, here and here on X and here, here, here, here and here on Facebook.

The posts did not provide any other details or context about the video such as its date and specific location.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and keen public interest in the city’s state after the rains and the response of the local administration.

A reverse image search yielded an X post dated February 4, 2024, featuring the same video.

It was captioned: “Thirty minutes of rain in Karachi and this is what happened. How would any political party there defend this?”.

Further investigation led to a news story by HUM News from the same date.

The report, titled, “Karachi continues to battle chaos as heavy rainfall submerges major arteries,” included a screengrab from the viral clip and covered the heavy rainfall in Karachi at the time.

Other reports on the same spell of rainfall were published here and here.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: MISLEADING

The claim that a widely shared video shows a bubbling sewer amid the recent heavy Karachi rains is misleading.

The video was shared as far back as last year’s rains in the city in February.

Evidence and References

February 4, 2024, X post:
https://x.com/TheSaadKaiser/status/1753936445859848290

February 4, 2024, HUM News report:
https://humenglish.com/tag/karachi-traffic-situation-right-now/