Abstract
Abstract. Urban flooding has been and will continue to be a significant problem for many cities across the developed and developing world. Crucial to the amelioration of the effects of these floods is the need to formulate a sound flood management policy, which is driven by knowledge of the frequency and magnitude of impacts of these floods. Within the area of flood research, attempts are being made to gain a better understanding of the causes, impacts, and pattern of urban flooding. According to the United Nations office for disaster reduction (UNISDR), flood risk is conceptualized on the basis of three integral components which are frequently adopted during flood damage estimation. These components are: probability of flood hazard, the level of exposure, and vulnerabilities of elements at risk. Reducing the severity of each of these components is the objective of flood risk management under the UNISDR guideline and idea of “living with floods”. On the basis of this framework, the present research reviews flood risk within the Lagos area of Nigeria over the period 1968–2012. During this period, floods have caused harm to millions of people physically, emotionally, and economically. Arguably over this period the efforts of stakeholders to address the challenges appear to have been limited by, amongst other things, a lack of reliable data, a lack of awareness amongst the population affected, and a lack of knowledge of flood risk mitigation. It is the aim of this research to assess the current understanding of flood risk and management in Lagos and to offer recommendations towards future guidance.
Highlights
Flood events and impacts in recent times have arguably been unprecedented and affected the lives of hundreds of millions of people across the world
As well as engineering works such as dams, bridges, and sustainable urban drainage systems there has been financial assistance to victims of flooding and this appears to be a common practice. These are undertaken by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA), the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), and the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) which in 2009 superseded the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA)
This research argues that flood modelling and assessment of vulnerability are necessary requisites for more effective results towards addressing the challenges of flooding in the Lagos area and in Nigeria
Summary
Flood events and impacts in recent times have arguably been unprecedented and affected the lives of hundreds of millions of people across the world. These impacts have been shared by both developed and developing countries (DCs) with rapid urban expansion taking place in many flood-prone areas. The increasing densities of populations ( in the urban areas of most DCs such as Nigeria), alongside the poor level of awareness and the limited efforts of many stakeholders towards flood risk reduction are critical issues undermining possible efforts towards addressing the hazard (Action Aid, 2006; McMichael et al, 2006; Raaijmakers et al, 2008).
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