Officials in Cameroon say fresh flooding has forced at least 70,000 people out of temporary camps that were set up for flood victims along the country’s northern border with Chad and Nigeria. Some of the displaced flood victims have now moved to neighboring Chad, where at least two million people have been rendered homeless by this year’s ceaseless floods according to Chad’s government.
Kamsouloum Abba Kabir urged flood victims in Kousseri, a town on Cameroon’s northern border with Chad, to rush to safety in surrounding schools, mosques and churches.
Kamsouloum is a lawmaker representing Kousseri civilians in Cameroon’s lower house of parliament. He told civilians in several villages that waters from the Lake Chad basin are overflowing and causing havoc to civilians, animals and the environment.
In a video, broadcast on Cameroon state TV on Monday, Kamsouloum, accompanied by Cameroon government officials, said the lives of over 70,000 civilians rendered homeless by recent floods are again threatened by fresh floods sweeping through more villages and camps.
Thirty-nine-year old farmer Nogoue Shivom is among the flood victims chased by fresh floods from a camp constructed by the government to temporarily host flood victims.
Shivom said floods woke her from her bed in the Kousseri camp for flood victims at about 10 pm on Sunday. She said she was able to save the lives of her three children, but books, food and clothes she was given by a charity organization after the first floods swept through her village were carried away by last night’s floods.
In September, Cameroon reported that floods had affected over 2 million civilians on its northern border with Chad and rendered over two hundred thousand homeless. The central African state said farm plantations were devastated and cattle, goats, fouls and sheep either killed or swept away by the floods.
Cameroon warned of a looming famine and began transferring civilians rendered homeless by floods to several camps including Kousseri.
Rebeka, who goes by only one name, is the highest government official in Kousseri.
He said by Sunday night, several thousand flood victims fled from their camp and surrounding villages and are seeking refuge in safer places. He said a greater portion of the victims who left the camp have crossed over to Chad’s capital N’djamena where they hope to find safety.
The Cameroon government reports that about 70,000 flood victims have either crossed into Chad or are seeking refuge in border villages. The government says scores of people have died in the floods but gives no further details.
The report comes when Chad’s government says it is pleading for international support after floods caused by severe rainfall since July of this year have killed at least 500 people and displaced about 2 million civilians.
Chad has not commented on the influx of Cameroon flood victims. It is not the first time Cameroonians have sought refuge in Chad. In 2021, Cameroon reported that at least a hundred thousand civilians fled its northern border to Chad after conflicts over water between cattle ranchers and fishermen killed 40 people and wounded 70.
Last month Doctors Without Borders reported that a coordinated and rapid international response is needed to save the lives of thousands of people who have fled floodwaters and are seeking refuge with desperate shortages of food, shelter, drinking water and health care.
Cameroon and Chad said last August that the lives of more than 5 million people in the two countries were threatened by a severe humanitarian crisis triggered by climate shocks. The two countries also said the floods will lead to famine and conflicts over food and drinkable water.