The claim circulated online the day after deadly floods caused by a tropical depression struck Thailand’s northern provinces of Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai.
Floods and landslides triggered by Typhoon Yagi claimed at least 700 lives in the region as it swept across Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar in September 2024 (archived link).
The same image was shared alongside similar claims here, here, and here.
Meanwhile, one X user shared the image here, saying that the woman and her cats did not survive but the scenes were not from Thailand.
In fact, the photo shows a dentist from the East Malaysian state of Sabah evacuating during floods in July. She told AFP she and her cats are safe.
July 2024 Sabah floods
A reverse image search followed by keyword searches on Google found the same picture on Facebook from a July 1, 2024 post expressing condolences for people affected by flooding in Penampang (archived link).
The photo was captioned “Phoebe saving the cats”.
Penampang — a district in East Malaysia’s Sabah state — was severely hit by flash floods after heavy downpours on June 30, 2024. At least one person was found dead while a total of 296 people from 97 families were displaced (archived links here and here).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the image in the false post (left), which appears to have been cropped, and the original Facebook post (right):
Further keyword searches on Facebook led to another post on the same day that identified the woman as a dentist called Dr Phoebe who works in Donggongon, a town in Penampang (archived link).
“Yes, it’s definitely me and my cats,” Dr Phoebe Ann Zepher told AFP on September 19, 2024.
The cats were safely evacuated to a two-storey residence in the neighbourhood, said Phoebe, who added “now they are doing okay”.
Her feline rescue was also featured on local media reports here, here and here (archived links here, here and here).
AFP has debunked other misinformation linked to Typhoon Yagi here and here.
