[ 2012-09-09 ]

Thirty dead in Nigeria flood, 120,000 displaced
KANO, Nigeria (AFP) - The death toll from flooding
in eastern Nigeria after heavy rain and the
release of water from a dam in Cameroon has risen
to 30, with some 120,000 people displaced, an
official said on Sunday.

Water was released from the Lagdo dam in late
August in neighbouring Cameroon after officials
there warned Nigeria several weeks earlier. The
opening of the dam led to flooding along the Benue
River in Nigeria.

"So far we have recorded 30 deaths from the
flooding caused by the release of water from Lagdo
dam in Cameroon," said Shadrach Daniel, secretary
of the emergency management agency in Adamawa
state.

"Twenty people are still missing. The flood has
displaced 121,000 people, with 61,000 living in 30
camps across the state."

Daniel's agency had reported 10 deaths in late
August. A cholera outbreak had also occurred, with
65 cases recorded, but no deaths, he said.

Flooding this rainy season in various parts of
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation with some
160 million people, had already killed dozens.
Much of the country has been affected by heavy
seasonal rainfall.

Flooding often leads to widespread displacements
and casualties during the West African rainy
season, as well as disease outbreaks due partly to
poor sanitation.

The government in Niger, which also neighbours
Nigeria, said last week that at least 68 people
had been killed and nearly 500,000 displaced by
flooding since July.

Source - AFP

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