The Cameroonian government has reportedly informed the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) that controlled water releases from the Lagdo dam have begun.
Following recent heavy rainfall in West and Central Africa, neighboring Cameroon announced it was beginning to release water from one of its largest dams. This prompted Nigeria’s hydrological services agency to issue a warning about impending flooding in 11 states.
The warning is issued at a time when northeastern Borno state in Nigeria is already experiencing catastrophic flooding due to a dam breaking due to heavy rainfall. These floods have also affected Cameroon, Chad, Mali, and Niger, all of which are in the Sahel region of Africa, which typically receives minimal rain.
The Cameroonian government notified the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) on Tuesday that controlled water releases from the Lagdo dam had begun.
Numerous dams are located in Cameroon on the Benue River, which empties into Nigeria downstream.
The dam’s manager, Cameroonian utility ENEO, told Reuters that although the reservoirs hadn’t been opened as of Wednesday morning, there was still a chance the dam will flood.
According to the NIHSA, in order to avoid floods, the Lagdo dam operators would progressively release water so as not to surpass the Benue river’s capacity downstream.
However, 11 states were at risk, according to NIHSA, including southern oil-producing states of Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers, as well as Benue, Nasarawa, and Kogi in the central belt region that produces food.
“To step up vigilance and deploy adequate preparedness measures to reduce possible impacts of flooding that may occur as a result of increase in flow levels of our major rivers at this period,” it asked federal and state officials in Nigeria.
Following intense rains and Cameroon’s discharge of water from the Lagdo dam, Nigeria suffered the worst flooding in ten years in 2022, losing over 600 lives and farmlands.
At the time, experts claimed that the catastrophe was made worse by Nigeria’s inability to finish a dam that was meant to support the Cameroonian one.
Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, is vulnerable to flooding, but detractors claim that inadequate planning and broken infrastructure make the problem worse.
