The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has raised the alarm over the threat of rapid flooding along the River Niger and River Benue Basin, owing to the release of water from the Lagdo Dam in the Republic of Cameroon.
Mr Mustapha Ahmed who is the Director General of NEMA, issued the warning at a media briefing in Abuja which was monitored by Africa Today News, New York
Mr Ahmed reports that, already, states such as Adamawa, Taraba, and Benue were feeling the impact of the huge flooding occasioned by the water from Lagdo Dam.
The agency called on states along the River Benue and River Niger Basin to urgently activate their emergency response plans, warning more states in the basin will experience flooding in the days ahead.
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In a related development, no fewer than 40 people have been confirmed dead following a glacial lake burst that triggered a torrential flash flood in India, Africa Today News, New York has learnt.
Violent torrents stuck the remote state of Sikkim earlier in the week after the sudden bursting of a high-altitude glacial lake in neighbouring Nepal.
Climate scientists warn that similar disasters will become an increasing danger across the Himalayas as global temperatures rise and ice melts.
Downstream search-and-rescue teams recovered more bodies overnight as the waters cut a swathe through the countryside towards the Bay of Bengal.
‘Nineteen bodies have been recovered’ in Sikkim state, V.B. Pathak, its top civil servant, told reporters.
Shama Parveen, a district magistrate in neighbouring West Bengal, said that an additional 21 bodies had been recovered in her state over the past three days.
Nearly 8,000 others were taking shelter at makeshift relief camps set up at schools, government offices and guesthouses, according to a state government bulletin.