Cameroon Dam Flood Displaces 12,000 In C’River

The Director-General,? Cross River State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Mr Vincent Aquah, yesterday disclosed that? water from Lagdo Dam in Cameroon has displaced more than 12, 000 people in the state,? while one person was reportedly killed by flood in Nasarawa State.

Aquah who revealed this while addressing Community Relations Officers (CRO) of the 18 local government areas in the state, said 49 communities in seven LGAs were affected by the flood.

“We have a large volume of water coming in as a result of excess water from Cameroon’s Lagdo Dam and it is the manifestation of what we had earlier been warned against,’’ he said.

Aquah said the affected communities were located in Ikom, Yala, Ogoja, Obubra, Abi, Biase and Odukpani areas of Cross River and remarked that Cross River had the largest number of communities affected by flooding.

In a related development Nasarawa State House of Assembly called on those living by the river side to evacuate their houses in order to avoid flood disaster.

The house passed a resolution yesterday? while considering a matter of public interest brought by the member representing Doma South, Hon Anthony Obande. While commiserating with the flood victims in various parts of the state, Obande appealed to them to always be careful while building near river side.

As some states in Northern part of the country continue to experience devastating flooding, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has registered 13,428 internally displaced persons as well as 30 communities that were submerged in Taraba State.

A statement sign by the Head, Public Relations Yushau A. Shuaib, and made available to LEADERSHIP, said that, While conducting a rapid response assessment during the tours of the councils, it was discovered that bridges linking various communities were cut off by the flood due to overflow of River Benue as well as the release of water from the Kiri Dam in Adamawa State and from Lagdo Dam in the Republic of Cameroun.