Whether it rains expectedly or unexpectedly, people rush to find shelter until the downpour subsides. However, with a flood, only the living can find shelter while grieving. Following series of warnings issued by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, and related agencies, that went unheeded, the flood in Nigeria has been attributed to man-made or man-augmented factors
Flooding destroys life, property and the environment. The money government spends on insurable losses due to flooding is alarming.
At the national consultative workshop on 2022 Flood Preparedness, Mitigation and Response organised by the National Emergency Management Agency in Abuja, recently, the Director General, Mr Mustapha Ahmed, said the agency had identified 233 local councils in 32 states and the Federal Capital Territory that would experience flooding in 2022.
Early last month, he had revealed that flash floods across Nigeria affected about 508,000 people, killing about 372, injuring 277 and destroying 37,633 houses, aside from farmlands and livestock lost, within the last eight months.
In Anambra State, about 76 persons lost their lives when a boat carrying 85 passengers from Onukwu to Nkwo Ogbakuba capsized on Friday, October 7, 2022. Three other people were also said to have gone missing in Enugu State as a result of flooding in some parts of the state.
`Lokoja, the confluence town for Niger and Benue rivers, is currently largely under water, especially the riverside communities. Rising sea levels have caused the River Niger to overflow in Lokoja, making vehicular access impossible. To get to their destinations, drivers have had to take a detour via longer routes.
Further, Nigerian Meteorological Agency warned that states in Nigeria’s North Central and South East zones should brace up for more flooding.
The Director-General of NiMet, Prof. Mansur Matazu,, said, “We issued the forecast in February and we followed up with the monthly updates that we are going to have above normal rainfall in most parts of the country. So, in terms of rainfall-induced floods, we have seen the peak. But remember, we told you that this rainwater gets collected into the reservoirs and dams, and whenever they are filled, they overflown.”
He said the Lagdo Dam was released alongside other dams, noting that we would be experiencing riverine flooding, which indicated more flooding, especially in the North Central and the southern states.
“On September 13, the Lagdo Dam was released, other dams were also released. So, what we are witnessing now is riverine flooding. And from the information we are getting, we are going to see more flood. Now, the rains are concentrating on the North Central and southern states. So, that will be a combination of short duration, high intensity rain, with riverine flooding. We are going to see more of these floods in the North Central states as we have seen in Kog State, as well as southeastern and southwestern states.
“Water-related challenges facing governments at all levels include securing water supplies, designing appropriate water governance schematic, sustaining the management of trans-boundary basins, managing flood and/or drought as well as ensuring the protection and conservation of our ecosystem. It has been observed that one of the major factors to effectively manage water resources and address some of the above challenges is the availability of hydrometeorological information and products targeted to serve the needs of the different sectors,” he stated.
Dams are constructed to serve various purposes such as water supply, flood control and power generation. Dams and reservoirs can be effectively used to regulate river levels and flooding downstream by temporarily storing the flood volume and releasing it later. The most effective method of flood control is accomplished by an integrated water management plan for regulating the storage and discharge of each of the main dams in a river basin. Each dam is operated by a specific water control plan for routing floods through the basin without damage. This means lowering of the reservoir level to create more storage before the rainy season. This strategy eliminates flooding. The number of dams and their water control management plans are established by comprehensive planning for economic development and with public involvement.
There are 323 large, medium and small dams in Nigeria. They have a total storage capacity of more than 30×109 cubic metres. Eighty-five per cent of the larger dams are located in the Sudano-Sahelian zone of the country. Seventy-nine per cent have domestic and industrial water supply components, while 33 per cent have irrigation as a major use to which the stored water is; 29 per cent for fisheries, 16 per cent for recreation and four per cent for hydro-electric power generation. The three largest hydropower dams are under operation and control the flow of the Niger and Kaduna rivers. Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro dams are with a total active capacity of 18.6×109 cubic metres and total power capacity of 1,920 Megawatts.
Studies suggest that flood risk may have increased due to changes in the use of land, which induce changes of hydrological systems. Deforestation, urbanisation and reduction of wetlands cause a decrease in the accumulation of water in the basin and increase the run-off. In the last few decades, however, increased attention has been paid to the consequences of floods and measures that could be developed to reduce the effects of a flood. This has been triggered by the observation that economic and insured losses due to extreme floods have drastically increased during the last two decades.
Economic consequences of flooding
Society has become more aware that floods can be controlled to a limited extent, and that absolute safety against floods is a delusion. Flood, as a natural hazard, affects the stability of society.
Since 1990, there have been over 30 floods, in each of which either the material losses exceeded $1bn, or the number of fatalities was greater than 1,000, or both. Countries such as Bangladesh and China have suffered at least 2.5 million victims in the last 100 years in major floods, according to a research.
The International Monetary Fund also has warned that the recent incidents of flooding in some states in Nigeria will worsen food insecurity and lead to further increase in food prices across the country.
“We are cognisant of the challenge of the flood of that magnitude and how it affected Nigeria and neighbouring countries. We also recognise that Chad and Cameroon have also been hit. Absolutely, you’re totally right in terms of the supply of agricultural production. It is going to drop, which will put even further pressure on prices. In addition, the floods have affected some of the transportation networks, which makes it even harder for food to come into the country or even go out.”
The high cost of relief and recovery may adversely impact investment in infrastructure and other development activities in different areas and, in certain cases, may cripple the frail economy of the region. Recurrent flooding in a region can discourage long-term investments by the government and private sector alike. Lack of livelihoods, combined with migration of skilled labour and inflation, may have a negative impact on a region’s economic growth. Loss of resources can lead to high cost of goods and services, delaying its development programmes.
Every year, West African countries experience heavy downpours, which often result in flooding. The floods, in turn, bring death, destruction to property and crops and outbreaks of disease. In 2012, the situation worsened dramatically. And the United Nations warns that climate change, increasing urbanisation and population growth will further exacerbate the impact of floods in the future.
The UN recommends that countries devise robust programmes to forecast and respond to floods, to minimise their impact by organising prevention, improving planning and speeding reaction times. Such programmes would also help relief agencies coordinate aid distribution more effectively.
According to the Director of the World Bank’s Sustainable Development Department for Africa, Jamal Saghir, recent events signal a clear need to refocus efforts on flood prevention, not just response.
Unpredictable weather patterns are here to stay, says Dewald van Niekerk, Director of African Disaster Studies at South Africa’s North-West University.
“What needs to change is our work in pre-disaster preparation,” he says. “People have to understand why it floods. There might be an engineering solution … or there could be an early warning system.”
Social aspects of disaster reduction and response
According to the UN, disaster managers must recognise that different social groups have different needs when a disaster occurs. Generally, marginalised groups have less social power and fewer economic resources and physical capacity to anticipate, survive and recover from the affects of massive floods.
“There is an intrinsic relationship between poverty and vulnerability. In addition, the elderly, the disabled and children are particularly vulnerable, and gender is especially important to flood risk reduction,” it says.
From 1975 to 2000, people, who belong to the low-income category, accounted for about 50 per cent of those killed in floods, with over 90 per cent of all deaths from natural disasters being water-related. Disaster vulnerability and poverty are mutually reinforcing. Factors such as low income, poor housing and public services, lack of social security and insurance coverage force the poor to behave in ways that expose them to greater risk. As the impact of natural disasters tend to fall disproportionately on the poor, specific policies are required to tackle the link between poverty and disaster vulnerability.
The UN states that it is very important to link disaster management to poverty reduction.
The failure to properly address livelihood issues hampers advancement on mitigating the impact of natural disasters.
Also, lack of capital or wealth accumulation over the long run tends to undermine sustainable development. Recurrent floods and windstorms, for example, not only destroy national wealth, but also hinder efforts to accumulate physical and human capital.
It is important to assess disaster impact to help governments adjust their financial planning scenarios and economic growth rate projections to offset or reflect the social, economic and environmental impact of disaster shocks. Such assessments also help to further our understanding of the importance of mitigation measures.
Insurance schemes need to be complemented by other low-cost risk-sharing mechanisms in poorer communities, such as kinship networks, microfinance and public works programmes to increase coping capacities. Additional tools and financial incentives are necessary to promote proactive disaster risk reduction investment. It is also important that all development projects include an assessment of vulnerabilities and risks from disasters.
Mitigating flood disasters
Mitigating flood disasters, to reduce the loss of life and property, involves taking the appropriate action to solve the current problem, and preparing for future occurrences. By so doing, human and financial consequences may be prevented.
According to the UN, the operation of a flood warning and response system is the most effective method for reducing loss.
It stated, “This is particularly so where the unplanned occupation of flood-prone areas has taken place or where sectors of the community are vulnerable to flooding under extreme conditions. It is very important to link indigenous knowledge of basin response to forecasted or observed weather conditions.”
It further stated that, in some cases, local communities may be unaware of weather events occurring upstream of their location that might well result in their destruction. People in communities need to understand what a prediction means: how exactly the predicted event would affect them personally. These predictions have to be applicable to people having varying economic status and reflect gender differences, so that all elements of society can understand what response actions should be taken. Also, the flood warning and response system should be promoted in such a way that an ‘ownership’ sense is created within the communities that operate the system to foster its sustainability. Special consideration should be given to language and cultural barriers to increase the effectiveness of the system.
“Given the importance of meteorological data and forecasts to the production of flood forecasts, it is very important that there be close collaboration between national meteorological and hydrological services. This collaboration could take several forms and should focus on increasing the accuracy and utility of knowledge of existing conditions and forecasted states,” it stated.
