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October 03, 2006
State radio: Dozens feared dead from Nigeria dam collapse
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) -- About 40 people were feared dead in flooding from a dam collapse in northwest Nigeria, state radio said Sunday.
POSTED: 7:22 a.m. EDT, October 1, 2006
The dam gave out Saturday after heavy rains apparently overwhelmed the structure, according to Radio Nigeria.
The station said about 500 houses were washed away in villages outside the city of Gusau, the capital of the northern Nigerian state of Zamfara.
The head of the state water board blamed the collapse on a build up of sediment in the dam outlets that increased pressure.
"The water is continuing to rise and flood farmlands," Dahiru Yusuf Yabo said. "Most people had time to flee but they had to abandon most of their belongings."
Yabo said he did not have a figure on how many people may have been killed.
The floodwaters contaminated wells of nearly 10,000 people, he said.
"There is a risk of disease, so we are dispatching people with water treatment kits," he said.
The village of Gangan, with a population of about 7,000 people, was the worst affected, Yabo said.
Posted by Publisher at October 3, 2006 02:20 PM
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