Photo shows melted traffic light in Italy, not extreme heat damage in Texas | Fact check
The claim: Image shows traffic light melted by Texas's extreme heat
A June 19 Facebook photo (direct link, archive link) shows a traffic light that is warped and appears to have partially melted.
"It’s so hot in Texas even the traffic lights are melting," reads the caption.
The post was shared over 30,000 times in less than two months.
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Our rating: False
The damage shown in the photo is not associated with a heat wave in Texas. Instead, it shows an old photo of an Italian traffic light that reportedly melted as the result of a vehicle fire.
Traffic light melted in Italy in 2022
Texas endured a summer heat wave that brought about weeks of 100-degree temperatures in June and July, according to The Texas Tribune. But the image of the melted traffic light is unrelated to the heat wave.
An Italian Instagram user posted a video of himself with the damaged light on July 29, 2022.
The Instagram video was shot at the intersection of Viale Regina Margherita and Via Bergamo in Milan, Italy. Google Maps images of that location match the scenery in the Instagram video as well as the Facebook photo and other photos of the traffic light circulating online.
The Italian website Open reported that the damage to the traffic light was caused by a scooter fire.
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Social media users have also wrongly claimed the traffic light melted in Arizona, Nevada, Bulgaria and India.
The Facebook user who posted the image told Paste BN that they knew the photo was old and not from Texas.
"It's just a funny meme because it's been so hot in Texas," the user said.
The photo was also debunked by Check Your Fact.
Our fact-check sources:
- Open, August 1, 2022, Milan, a traffic light melts in the heat? Here's how things really went (Google translate)
- Paste BN, June 21, 'Oppressive' and 'unbearable' heat wave scorches Texas, with no end in sight
- Texas Tribune, July 24, As Texas’ heat wave continues, tell us how you’re coping
- Full Fact, July 19, Photo of melted traffic light wasn’t taken in Bulgaria
- Factly, June 20, Old photo from Italy’s Milan city shared as the picture of a melted traffic light in Lucknow
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