Maiduguri under water: what the Alau Dam flood figures do and do not show
On 10 September 2024 a breach of the Alau Dam flooded about 40 percent of Maiduguri. OCHA figures cited by UNICEF put deaths at 37, with close to 400,000 displaced people registered in camps within a week, while investigators dispute how a dam that received repair money ended up in that state.
Key points
- The flood followed a breach of the Alau Dam on 10 September 2024.
- About 40 percent of Maiduguri was flooded.
- OCHA figures cited by UNICEF: 37 deaths and 58 injuries reported.
- Close to 400,000 displaced people registered in some 30 camps within a week.
What happened
Maiduguri was already hosting large numbers of people displaced by the insurgency in the north-east, including about 57,000 people in Muna camp, which was cut off by water for a week. The flood also damaged 29 health facilities with nutrition services and flooded 56 schools, and destroyed 1.1 million vaccines in a flooded cold store, according to the UNICEF report.
Two different questions are often mixed together. The first is what happened: how much of the city flooded and how many people were affected. The second is why the dam failed, and on that the official emphasis on heavy rain sits alongside an investigation that found long-standing damage and repair money that left little to show.
Claim by claim
Why this label: Stated in UNICEF's situation report of 24 September 2024.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: Given as OCHA figures in the UNICEF report. Early official statements gave lower death tolls, which is normal in the first days of a disaster and is why this story uses the later, dated figure.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: UNICEF report. Registration in camps is a counted figure; the total number of people affected, including those who stayed with relatives, would be higher and is not the same number.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: HumAngle's investigation, using the GovSpend portal. The payments are documented in its reporting, but whether the money was misappropriated, as the investigation alleges, has not been established by a court or an official audit that we could open.
On the ladder: credible sources conflict, so we show both workings. One side's own statement is that side's position — never proof.
Why this label: This is HumAngle's reading of Google Earth imagery. It is detailed and dated, but it is one investigation's analysis, and the dam authority did not give the response the investigators asked for.
On the ladder: credible sources conflict, so we show both workings. One side's own statement is that side's position — never proof.
What we know / what we don't know yet
What we know
- The date, the share of the city flooded, and the camp registration figures come from a dated UN situation report.
- Repair payments over 2018 to 2024 are set out, with amounts and dates, in an investigation using a public spending portal.
What we don't know yet
- A final, agreed death toll for the flood as a whole, beyond the figures reported in September 2024.
- An official finding on what happened to the rehabilitation money, and who was responsible for the dam's condition.
Why it matters
Maiduguri's flood is a warning about maintenance, not only about rainfall. If money budgeted to repair a dam does not produce a repaired dam, the same disaster can repeat at the next heavy rain, in Borno or at any of Nigeria's other ageing dams.
Update history
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