No fewer than 23 people have reportedly died as a result of a wave of water released by a burst dam in Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital, Reuters reports.
Assola Joseph, a local leader in the Mbankolo neighbourhood said that the colonial-era dam opened at around 16:00 p.m. (1500 GMT) local time on Sunday, releasing water from a small lake.
Reuters confirmed that at the scene of the incident, at least five bodies had been recovered, and at least 30 houses destroyed.
Residents and rescue workers were picking through the debris of rubble, broken timber, uprooted banana trees and corrugated sheeting on a steep hillside on Monday morning.
Similarly, the Nigerian Federal Government, on Saturday, said 28 people had been killed and 48,168 others displaced by widespread flooding in the country.
It also drew the attention of states of imminent flooding on the River Benue line as the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon.
The government announced this through the National Emergency Management Agency during an emergency meeting with stakeholders in Abuja on Saturday.
Speaking at the meeting, the Director-General of NEMA, Mustapha Ahmed, said, “I wish to update you on the NEMA situation room dashboard which indicates that this year’s flood scenario has affected 159,157 people, resulted in the loss of 28 people and the displacement of 48,168 individuals in 13 states across Nigeria.”