In recent months, scenes of catastrophic flooding have dominated headlines and social media feeds across the globe. From entire villages in Afghanistan swept away to city subways in New York inundated by relentless rain, the world is witnessing a surge in flood events so extreme they seem ripped from ancient myth. But while the devastation is very real, not every viral image or video tells the full story—a reality that came to light when a video purportedly showing severe flooding in Mumbai turned out to be unrelated, actually depicting waterlogged streets in Delhi earlier this summer. The confusion, and the sobering facts behind it, underscore just how fraught and urgent the global conversation about climate-driven disasters has become.
According to a Business Insider report from October 2024, the scale and frequency of flash floods have reached "biblical" proportions. Professor John Marsham of the University of Leeds put it bluntly: "Our entire infrastructure and civilization are based around a climate that no longer exists." This unsettling truth is not merely academic. The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction’s Global Assessment Report 2025 Hazards: Floods notes that since the year 2000, the number of recorded flood-related disasters has soared by 134% compared to the previous two decades—a staggering leap that has left cities, towns, and rural areas struggling to cope.
America, for instance, experienced a deluge of warnings and emergencies in July 2025 alone. The National Centers for Environmental Information reported 1,434 flash flood warnings and 17 flash flood emergencies across the country. Texas bore the brunt, with nearly two feet of rain falling in just a couple of days, leading to widespread destruction and loss. But the United States was hardly alone. In that same year, five entire villages in Afghanistan’s Baghlan Province were washed away; Queensland, Australia, saw a foot of rain in a single day; Kentucky was inundated with nine inches of rain in mere hours. Catastrophic flooding struck Nepal and Pakistan, and deadly torrents hit regions as far-flung as East Cape Province, Niger State, Kenya, Columbia, Venezuela, Brazil, China, France, New Mexico, Chicago, North Carolina, New York City, and Kansas City. The list reads like a grim roll call of climate chaos, each entry a testament to the global scale of the crisis.
Yet, as these disasters unfold, the ability to track, predict, and respond to them is being undermined. The Center for American Progress warned in July 2025 that the Trump administration had significantly reduced the staff, research capacity, and data-sharing capabilities of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), including its critical weather forecasting functions. The administration’s 2026 budget, according to the same report, even aims to eliminate the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research along with all NOAA weather laboratories and cooperative institutes—entities that provide essential data and research from 80 universities. Without their expertise, America’s ability to warn citizens and mitigate flood damage is at risk.
This governmental retreat from science has not gone unnoticed. A sweeping nationwide study titled "American Attitudes Toward Government Interventions in Science"—conducted by the University of Rochester, Harvard, Northwestern, and Rutgers—surveyed 31,062 Americans across all 50 states in 2025. The findings were stark: "Across all demographics and political affiliations, disapproval of the administration’s actions outpaces approval by more than two to one." Only 21% of Americans expressed approval for the suppression of scientific research and data, with the majority voicing deep concern over the consequences for public safety and environmental resilience.
Meanwhile, the insurance industry has become an unexpected barometer of society’s vulnerability to climate change. As the Center for American Progress reported in April 2025, "Insurers are responding to heightened losses by reducing coverage, exiting high-risk markets, and dramatically raising premiums. For many, insurance coverage is unavailable or unaffordable, leaving them unprotected from disaster." Former California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones warned, "We’re marching steadily toward an uninsurable future." The implications are dire—not just for homeowners and businesses, but for the very stability of the global economy.
All of this is unfolding against a backdrop of mounting public skepticism toward climate denialism. As images of unprecedented flooding beam into living rooms night after night, the notion that global warming is a "hoax" appears increasingly untenable. The evidence is inescapable: more evaporation and more moisture in a warming atmosphere mean more intense rainfall, a basic principle of atmospheric science. The burning of fossil fuels and the resulting greenhouse gases have turbocharged this process, turning what might once have been considered "regular" climate change into something altogether more dangerous and unpredictable.
Yet, amid the deluge of real disaster, misinformation can spread just as quickly as floodwaters. In July 2025, a video surfaced on social media claiming to show the aftermath of heavy rains in Kharghar, Mumbai. The footage, which depicted an underpass submerged in water, was shared widely and stoked fears about the city’s vulnerability. However, a rigorous investigation by Fact Crescendo and corroborated by a Dainik Bhaskar report revealed the truth: the video was not from Mumbai at all, but from Delhi, recorded earlier that same month. Reverse image searches and social media posts dated July 9 and 10, 2025, confirmed the video’s actual origin. "From our investigation, we can say that the claim is false. The viral video doesn’t show the recent flood situation in Mumbai. According to reports, the video shows an underpass in Delhi in July 2025," Fact Crescendo concluded.
The incident serves as a cautionary tale about the power—and pitfalls—of viral content in an era of climate anxiety. With so much genuine devastation occurring, the temptation to amplify or misattribute dramatic images is understandable, but it can also muddy the waters of public understanding and distract from the real, urgent challenges at hand.
It’s tempting, when faced with floodwaters rising in city streets and rural valleys alike, to reach for ancient analogies. The story of Noah’s Ark, echoed in the Bible, the Qur’an, and ancient Babylonian epics like the Epic of Gilgamesh and Epic of Atrahasis, speaks to a deep human fear of nature’s wrath and the desire for salvation. But as the National Center for Science Education pointed out in 2009, the true lesson of these stories may not be about divine punishment, but about the consequences of a planet out of balance.
As 2025’s extraordinary floods continue to reshape landscapes and lives, one thing has become clear: the climate of the past is gone, and with it, the certainties that once underpinned our societies. Whether the world will rise to meet this new reality, or continue to be swept along by denial and inaction, remains to be seen. But for now, the evidence is as plain as the water in the streets—and the warnings are growing harder to ignore.
