Last updated on July 23rd, 2026
Editor’s Note
In early July 2026, Typhoon Maysak brought sustained heavy rainfall and flooding to parts of southern China, prompting national authorities to upgrade the flood-control emergency response for the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on July 6. Around this time, several X accounts circulated a video showing a red truck stranded on a fractured bridge deck, claiming that “bridges in China started collapsing.” Fact Hunter found the footage was shot on June 24, 2025, when a landslide caused by heavy rain collapsed the approach spans of the Houzihe Grand Bridge in Guizhou. These posts removed the footage’s original date and location, and falsely claimed a bridge collapsed after just one hour of rain. Because the video resurfaced during an active flood event, properly verifying its date, location, cause, and scope is necessary to avoid confusing old footage with the present situation.
Claim
On July 5, 2026, X user @Mericancannon posted a video of a bridge collapse. The footage shows a red truck stranded on a broken bridge deck, its cab hanging over the edge of the fracture. The caption reads: “After one hour of rain, bridges in China started collapsing. As long as a product is made in China, I cannot trust its quality.” As of the time of verification, the post had accumulated approximately 51,000 views. The same footage was also posted by @ChinaVideos1 and @NewsZonex24, bringing the combined total to roughly 336,000 views.
Fact Check
1. Source Analysis
The video in the post carries a “From ChinaVideos1” watermark at the bottom of the frame, indicating that the material posted by @Mericancannon was taken from the X account @ChinaVideos1. @ChinaVideos1 published the clip on July 4, 2026, and @Mericancannon reposted it the following day. Neither post stated when the video was filmed or where it originally came from.
A reverse search of key frames shows that identical footage had already circulated publicly after the collapse of the approach spans of the Houzihe Grand Bridge in June 2025. The earliest record identified so far is an on-site video posted by Douyin user @贰少爷 on June 24, 2025. The red truck, the location of the deck fracture, the surrounding hillsides, and the camera angle all match the video circulating on X in July 2026.
The matching visual elements confirm that the X posts reused footage first circulated in June 2025 after the Houzihe Grand Bridge incident. The video was therefore not newly recorded during the July 2026 floods.
2. Event Cross-Verification
The same material was reposted by verified Chinese accounts in June 2025. Those posts stated that the incident occurred at the Houzihe Grand Bridge in Sandu County, Guizhou Province, that the collapsed section was an approach span, and that it was caused by a landslide induced by sustained torrential rain.
According to Xinhua, citing the Guizhou provincial government, the approach spans collapsed at around 7:40 a.m. on June 24, 2025. The truck driver was rescued, and no casualties were reported at the scene.
On June 25, 2025, international news outlet France 24 English also posted the same footage on X, describing it as the collapse of a bridge approach following a rain-induced landslide in Guizhou.
3. Cause of the Collapse
According to the briefing issued by the Guizhou Provincial Department of Transportation and reporting by Xinhua, the approach spans collapsed because of a landslide induced by sustained torrential rain. The landslide originated in Xinhe Village, Dujiang Township, Sandu County; the debris flow severed three piers of the Houzihe Grand Bridge, bringing down part of the approach structure.
According to the China Meteorological Administration, sustained heavy rainfall had affected Guizhou since June 19, 2025. In Sandu County, cumulative rainfall reached 668.7 mm, with a single-day total of 240 mm. The Sandu County Meteorological Observatory issued rainstorm yellow warnings at 4:14 p.m. and 9:50 p.m. on June 23 and upgraded the warning to orange — the second most severe level — at 10:24 p.m., just hours before the approach spans collapsed at around 7:40 a.m. the following morning.
The available records show that the collapse occurred during this period of continuous torrential rain and the landslide it triggered, which is inconsistent with the claim of a collapse after just one hour of rain. The official briefing identified the landslide as the direct cause of the incident.
4. Scope of the Collapse and Early-Warning Response
According to the Guizhou Provincial Department of Transportation and Xinhua, the incident involved the approach spans of one bridge, the Houzihe Grand Bridge in Sandu County. The available official reports concern this single bridge and do not support the posts’ plural claim that “bridges started collapsing.”
At 5:51 a.m., inspectors detected deformation in the bridge’s upbound approach spans and closed the upbound carriageway. The bridge was fully closed at 7:11 a.m., and the approach spans collapsed around 7:40 a.m. after a landslide severed the piers. Authorities stopped more than 200 vehicles before the collapse. The red truck had entered before the full closure; its driver was rescued, and no casualties were reported.
According to this timeline, the authorities detected the structural anomaly and imposed traffic controls before the collapse occurred.
5. Account Analysis
X user @Mericancannon lists its location as Idaho, US, and joined the platform in April 2026. The account labels itself as a “Media & News Company,” but its bio also notes “Not official,” indicating it is not an official media organization or government body.
6. Dissemination Analysis
Phase 1 (June 2025)
The collapse occurred at around 7:40 a.m. on June 24, 2025. On-site footage was first posted by Douyin user @贰少爷 and was then reposted by verified accounts including @People’s Daily. Posts on Chinese platforms stated that the incident occurred at the Houzihe Grand Bridge on the Xiamen-Chengdu Expressway in Guizhou, after a sustained bout of torrential rain triggered a landslide that brought down part of the approach spans. These statements match the briefings from Xinhua and the transport authorities.
From the same day, the footage entered international coverage: Reuters geolocated the video and verified the filming location and date, and its video report was republished by Yahoo; France 24, The Straits Times, and The Times also reported or republished the footage. These reports placed the incident in Guizhou, China, and cited the rain-induced landslide as the background of the collapse.
Phase 2 (July 2026)
About twelve months later, the same material was republished on X between July 4 and July 5, 2026, successively by @ChinaVideos1, @Mericancannon, and @NewsZonex24. The three posts share the same features: none states that the footage was filmed in June 2025, none identifies the original time, location, or source, and all attach phrases such as “after one hour of rain, bridges in China started collapsing,” “made in China,” and “#TofuChina,” presenting the footage together with claims about the quality of Chinese bridges and Chinese-made products.
These claims are inconsistent with the official briefings, which state that the area had experienced days of intense torrential rain before the incident, and that the rain-induced landslide severed the piers and brought down part of the approach spans.
Background
Typhoon Maysak, the 10th named storm of the 2026 season, made landfall in Hainan on July 3 and again near the Guangxi-Vietnam border around July 4, bringing extreme rainfall to multiple provinces across southern, central, and eastern China from July 4 onward. On July 6, the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters and other agencies raised the flood-control emergency response for Guangxi. During the same period, other cases were documented in which unrelated footage was presented as scenes from the current floods. The bridge video was posted on X between July 4 and July 5, and none of the posts stated that the material used in fact dated back to June 2025.
Verdict
Out of Context.
Conclusion
The circulating footage shows the collapse of the approach spans of the Houzihe Grand Bridge in Sandu County, Guizhou Province, on June 24, 2025. It does not show a new bridge collapse during the July 2026 floods. Official briefings state that the area had experienced sustained torrential rain before the incident and that a rain-induced landslide severed three piers, causing part of the approach structure to collapse. The incident involved the approach section of a single bridge, rather than multiple bridges as suggested by the posts. Before the collapse, transport authorities detected deformation in the approach spans and progressively restricted traffic in both directions. The truck driver shown in the footage was rescued, and no casualties were reported.
The footage first circulated on Chinese social media on the day of the incident in June 2025 and was also reported by international media outlets. When it resurfaced on X in July 2026, the posts omitted its original date, location, and reported cause, while pairing it with claims that “bridges in China started collapsing after one hour of rain” and questioning the quality of Chinese-made products. The available evidence does not support these claims. Readers should verify such claims against authoritative sources and refrain from sharing unverified information.
Have a questionable video or claim? Submit it to Fact Hunter’s investigation team at [therealfacthunter@outlook.com].
Primary Fact Checker: Zhang Xinyue
Secondary Fact Checker: Qinlan Qiu
Reference:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/driver-truck-hangs-precariously-over-095848390.html
https://www.thetimes.com/world/asia/article/driver-rescued-from-hanging-lorry-after-bridge-collapse-in-china-g9xgctchr?utm_source=chatgpt.com
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/heavy-rain-leaves-south-west-china-underwater-more-storms-on-horizon?utm_source=chatgpt.com
https://x.com/France24_en/status/1937601774203908235?s=20
https://jt.guizhou.gov.cn/xwzx1/jtyw1/202506/t20250624_88181489.html
https://www.cma.gov.cn/ztbd/2025zt/20250725/2014072109/202507/t20250729_7240696.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com
https://www.news.cn/politics/20250624/6139c41e1080492bab1d045d6b0063f9/c.html
