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The Assessment Of Flooding Problems
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Defra (2004) evaluated health
impacts on flood affected people of England and Wales and found the
existence of stress and other psychological difficulties among them.
Floods can affect health directly, for example, by causing injuries and
deaths due to drowning. These can occur during or in the aftermath of a
flood disaster when the residents return to their dwellings to clean up
the damage and debris. Floodwaters also can affect health indirectly,
through changes in other systems (for example, waterborne infections,
acute or chronic effects of exposure to chemical pollutants released
into floodwaters, vector borne diseases, food shortage, and others).
Floods also can increase the risk of cholera, diarrhoea,
schistosomiasis, dengue, yellow fever, malaria, Hantavirus, and other
diseases.
Oni (2003) stated that Floods make an enormous impact on
the environment and society. Floods destroy drainage systems in cities,
causing raw sewage to spill out into bodies of water. Also, in cases of
severe floods, buildings can be significantly damaged and even
destroyed. This can lead to catastrophic effects on the environment as
many toxic materials such as paint, pesticide and gasoline can be
released into the Drainage channels like: rivers, lakes, bays, and
ocean, killing maritime life (library.thinkquest.org).
Floods may
also cause millions worth of damage to a city, both evicting people from
their homes and ruining businesses. Floods cause significant amounts of
erosion to coasts, leading to more frequent flooding if not repaired.
The attendant loss of life and properties leaves a bitter taste in the
mouth of its victims and no one is left out. Extreme climatic events
have significant economic and social impacts, especially where
infrastructure is damaged – for example domestic and commercial
buildings, transport, energy and water supply to trade, transport and
services. Irrespective of whether urban floods are part of larger
riverine floods or result from inadequate drainage capacities, the
damage potential of floods in cities is extraordinarily high. Given the
high spatial concentration of people and values in cities, even small
scale floods may lead to considerable damages. In extreme cases urban
floods can result in disasters that set back urban development by years
or even decades. Recent statistics clearly indicate that economic
damages caused by urban floods are rising (MunichRe, 2005). On one hand,
the continuing urbanization process in combination with an
over-proportional growth of values in cities is responsible for this
trend, while on the other hand floods are indeed increasing, both in
terms of frequency and magnitude.
Therefore, from the above
observation, the vulnerability of Lagos Metropolis to this threats from
Flooding are very extensive and numerous, the fact that Lagos is an
urban metropolis, in fact the Largest urban agglomeration in Africa and
Africa’s most populated city with 18 million people and a Population
growth rate of 6% per annum Projected at 25million people by 2015
(Odjogu, 2008). Lagos being the industrial and commercial nerve of
Nigeria and the most populous nation in Africa contributes to the
phenomena which makes it pertinent for all the stakeholders to bring to
the fore the issue of Flooding and various mitigating and adaptive
measures to cushion its effects on socio-economic activities in the
Lagos Metropolis.
1.2 STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM
The
assessment of flooding problems in the Makoko area of Lagos as earlier
observed initiates devastating consequences for the economy of the
state and consequently housing and infrastructural developments.
Flooding has had adverse effect on the economy of the metropolis,
creating large scale underdevelopment in some very economic vital areas,
hence, increasing population density in less vulnerable communities and
towns in the metropolis which leads to overpopulation and congestion.
Sea-level rise will have significant impacts on coastal areas of Africa,
especially on its coastal megacities; because of the concentration of
poor populations in potentially hazardous areas those are more
vulnerable to such changes (Klein et al., 2002; Nicholls, 2004).
Traditionally,
studies have shown that flooding occur naturally through excessive
rainfall etc. Also this flooding could be as a result of human
activities such as blockage of drainage, excessive pavement of land,
deforestation due to overconsumption and felling of forest trees,
neglect of nature and the environment which leads humans to build and
construct infrastructures on any available land not regarding its
characteristics etc.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]This study focused on the assessment of flooding problems in makoko area of Lagos state. The aim and objective was to identify and asses the drainage channel in the study area, the effects of flooding in the study area, to examine the causes of flooding in the study area and to examine past efforts of curbing flooding problems in the study area.Both primary and secondary sources of data were employed with focus on the residents of the study area in order to capture their views on the effects of ... Continue reading---
