Abstract
River flooding has become a widely distributed and devastating natural disaster that has caused significant damages both economically and socially. Recently, it displaced millions of people in Nigeria and submerged several square kilometres of landed area in general and farmlands in particular. Although, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) predicted the occurrence of the flood disaster and advised the relocation of residence from the floodplain to the high ground, but spatial information pertaining to the areal extent vulnerable to the hazard was not made available. This study attempted to assess the spatial impact of the October 2012 flooding of the Niger-Benue basin on the surrounding areas using the moderate resolution imaging Spectroradiometre (MODIS) data of NASA Terra satellite and developed a geospatial methodology for detecting and extracting the flood risk areas and the vulnerable population to flooding within the basin. The integration of remotely sensed data and other spatial and non-spatial data within the GIS platform was able to produce series of thematic maps which was used to generate a geospatial database for flood risk analysis and assessment. The result of the analysis effectively demonstrated the contribution of geospatial methods in mitigating and monitoring the effect of flooding along the Niger-Benue basin. It was therefore, suggested that government agencies and policy makers should adopt this powerful technique for reliable and well synthesized information which is a vital component of flood risk assessment and planning.
Highlights
Floods have become a common natural disaster which has claimed many lives, displaced millions and resulted to the destruction of properties and degradation of contiguous farmlands
The result of the analysis effectively demonstrated the contribution of geospatial methods in mitigating and monitoring the effect of flooding along the Niger-Benue basin
This paper utilised moderate resolution imaging Spectroradiometre (MODIS) image for two different years, the first was acquired in October 2008 and it shows the actual river width and channel of the Niger-Benue (Figure 4) and the second was acquired in October 2012 when flood disaster hit the country (Figure 5)
Summary
Floods have become a common natural disaster which has claimed many lives, displaced millions and resulted to the destruction of properties and degradation of contiguous farmlands. It is the most frequent and devastating natural disaster in the world. Flood can be defined as a flow of water above the carrying capacity of a channel ([2] NOAA, 1998) It was defined loosely ([3] Olajuyigbe et al, 2012) as a large amount of water covering an area that was usually dry. River flooding occurs in the floodplains of the larger rivers, while sudden, short-lived flash floods are associated with rivers in the inland areas where heavy rainfall can change them into destructive torrents within a short period ([5] Ologunorisa, 2004)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
