Social media users share a photo online showing a frozen pipe bursting into a kitchen, claiming it took place during the freezing cold in February 2021 in Texas. This statement is false.
Examples can be seen here and here . One report reads: “It Happened in Houston Today!”
A brutal winter storm has left millions without power along the U.S. Gulf Coast and caused power prices to rise over the past week, highlighting the differences between Texas’ independent power grid and the rest of the United States (here).
About 8.8 million people in Texas, about a third of the state’s population, still had problems with their water supply early Monday, February 22, authorities told Reuters after the record freeze last week (here).
A search on TinEye, an image search and recognition tool, revealed here that the photo dates from early 2018.
The image was posted on January 9, 2018 on Imgur (imgur.com/gallery/5yB1g) and on Reddit on January 8, 2018 (here).
The caption on the Reddit message reads: “This is what happens in my hometown if you do not turn on the tap in the winter. Pipe bars in Watertown, NY. ”
A local radio station reported here on January 12, 2018 about the incident.
VERDICT
Failure. The photo started circulating online in 2018 and is not from a home in Texas in February 2021.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.