Lagdo Reservoir is a

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

located in the Northern Province of

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

. The lake covers an area of 586 km. It is located at .

History

The Lagdo dam was built between 1977 and 1982 by a combination of engineers and Chinese workers, along with Cameroonian labourers. The company that managed the construction was the China International Water & Electric Corp. International power company AES Sonel runs the hydroelectric dam.

Location

The dam is located 50 km south of the city of

Garoua Garoua or Garua (Fula: Garwa 𞤺𞤢𞤪𞤱𞤢) is a port city and the capital of the North Region of Cameroon, lying on the Benue River. A thriving centre of the textiles and cotton industries, the city has approximately 1,285,000 inhabita ...

on the Benue River. Its construction was intended to supply electricity to the northern part of the country and allow the irrigation of 15,000 hectares of crops downstream. The dam is 308 m long, 40 m in height and 9 m thick. The dam is located within the Arrondissement de Lagdo in the Département de la Benoué in the North Province.

Floods

In 2012, water released from the dam flooded areas including

Adamawa State Adamawa state () is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Borno to the northwest, Gombe to the west, and Taraba to the southwest, while its eastern border forms part of the national border with Cameroon. It tak ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, resulting in more than 10 deaths and the loss of properties worth thousands of dollars. A bigger effect of the flooding was at the lower Benue river region where more than 10,000 homes were submerged for more than two weeks. This left more than 10,000 hectares of farmland flooded and the streets of Makurdi occupied by crocodiles and other dangerous creeping creatures. Water Submerged settlement

In September 2022, According to Dr Sulieman Muhammad, the Executive Secretary of the Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency, 25 people died in the state and farmland was submerged due to floods brought by the discharge of water from the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon.

References

Lakes of Cameroon North Region (Cameroon) {{Cameroon-geo-stub