Floods along the River Benue

Floods along the River Benue in northern Cameroon have rendered many people homeless and destroyed farmland, according to humanitarian and media sources in Yaounde. The floods have been caused by heavy rains and the spilling of water from the Lagdo hydroelectric dam, William Eteki Mboumoua, head of the Cameroonian Red Cross, told IRIN on Thursday. He said many villages had been flooded and many homes destroyed. The Red Cross, he said, has sent medicines, food, blankets and mosquito nets to the area. AFP reported that about 1,000 persons living along the dam, which is about 50 km south of Garoua, administrative capital of the Northern Province, had been displaced. Mboumoua said he was unable to give an idea of the number of people affected but that from all indications, it was high. “Some have left their villages and are living in precarious conditions,” he said. According to Mboumoua, many bridges had collapsed in the area. “We fear that, if this situation continues, the flood waters could reach as far as Nigeria,” through which the Benue also runs, he said. This year, neighbouring Nigeria and Chad have also been affected by floods, as have Gambia, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Mauritania.