Donald Trump appears as a heroic animal lover in the gripping photo, which shows water rising up to his waist.
Two cats are in his arms, scared but safe, as the US President makes his way down a suburban street now under feet of water.
But hoax-busters Snopes have now revealed the photograph is, as Mr Trump himself might say, fake news.
The website said the image was in fact a doctored version of a photo taken of another man rescuing his two cats.
And the hoax-busters said the flood was not even as a result of Hurricane Harvey in Texas but actually occurred several years ago in Iowa.
Snopes said: “The original photograph, which showed a man named Brandon Smith rescuing his two cats from floodwaters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in June 2008, was taken by photographer Harry Baumert of the Des Moines Register.
“Although the original article containing the image is no longer online, the Iowa newspaper reprinted the photograph in a 2009 article that provided an update on Smith and his cats.”
Photo agency Getty also featured a picture of Mr Smith with the caption: “Brandon Smith carries his two cats, Fry and Bender, to dry land from their flooded and evacuated home on June 12, 2008 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
“Much of the city has been evacuated as the Cedar River continues to rise to record levels. More rains are predicted over the next few days.”
The Iowa newspaper said, one year later, the cats were alive and well. Their current status is uncertain. What is clear, however, is Mr Trump did not rescue them from the rising waters.
Hurricane Harvey provoked a number of fake images of Mr Trump which quickly went viral on social media sites including Twitter.
One showed the US President leaning precariously off an inflatable dinghy, reaching forward to help a desperate man trapped in the turbulent water.
In real news, Mr Trump has requested almost £4.5 billion in federal aid following the hurricane and also announced he had donated £750,000 of his own money to the relief project as he prepares to visit Florida in the wake of Hurricane Irma.