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Hydrological agency places Edo, Delta, 3 others on ‘red alert’ for ‘devastating’ floods

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Floods IN NIGERIA

The Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) said on Monday night that five states in the country should be on “Red Alert” of imminent flooding.

The Director-General of NIHSA, Mr. Clement Nze, who disclosed this at a news conference at the agency’s headquarters in Abuja, listed  Edo, Delta, Rivers, Anambra, and Bayelsa as states that should prepare for devastating floods this year.

According to him, the current devastating floods ravaging parts of Adamawa, Taraba, Benue and Kogi States, and invariably cascading down to Edo, Delta, Anambra, Rivers and Bayelsa States informed the briefing.

Nze noted that the cause of the current floods was the opening of the Lagdo Dam managed by the Cameroonian authorities from October 10 to October 31.

He said: “After several weeks of denial, the Cameroonian authorities responsible for the operation of the Lagdo Dam confirmed to NIHSA that they released water from the Dam.

“This was communicated to the NIHSA thus: In any case, it should be noted that this year is an exceptional year in terms of rainfall in the sub-region because it continued to rain up to the usual periods.

“Regarding the Lagdo Dam, the vanes were opened only around October 10, 2019, in anticipation of floods upstream, and would like to inform you that that the floodgates of the Lagado Dam have been closed for the rainy season campaign since October 31, 2019.”

He said the non-disclosure of information on the operation of the Lagdo Dam runs contrary to the spirit and letter of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two countries in 2015.

 

The NIHSA chief added: “It was after the year 2012 devastating flooding incidents in Nigeria which caused the release of excess water from the Cameroonian dam that the two countries signed the MoU.

“The MoU amongst other things requires that the Cameroonian authorities give adequate and prior notice to Nigeria before the release of excess water downstream the dam.

“The non-existence of a dam within the Nigeria portion of the Benue sub-basin makes Nigeria vulnerable in the event of a sudden or unannounced release of water from the Lagdo Dam.”

Nze, therefore, said the unannounced release of water by the Cameroonian authorities would imminently have an adverse effect on Nigeria.

“As of today, 04-11-2019, the flood level on River Benue measured at Makurdi is 11.28m, as against a much lower of 9.01m on 04-11-2012.

“And the corresponding flood levels downstream the confluence of the two rivers in Lokoja is as follows: 10.97m for 04-11-2019 and 8.04m for 04-11-2012.

“The year 2012 is taken as the reference year considering the magnitude of the flood of that year.

”However, as it could be seen from the above figures, the flood level in each hydrological station as at today is far above the corresponding value in 2012,” he concluded.

 

 

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