Executive Summary

All over the world, floods are among the most devastating natural disasters, claiming more lives and causing more property damage than any other natural phenomena. In Nigeria, though not leading in terms of claiming lives, floods affect and displace more people than any other disaster. It also causes more damage to properties.

In Ekiti State, particularly in Ikere community, flood disaster has been perilous to people. Recently, in August 2019, areas like Ogbon in Oke-Osun and Alade filling station in Odo-Oja in Ikere recorded severe floods which rendered many people homeless while property worth millions of Naira were destroyed. One prominent feature about flood is that it does not discriminate, but marginalize whosoever refuses to prepare for its occurrence. Flood in Ikere community has not only left several people homeless, destroyed properties and disrupted business activities, but has also exposed residents to an impending cholera, diarrhea, typhoid, dysentery, malaria, skin infections and other water-borne diseases epidemic. These catastrophes, which have also been witnessed in other parts of the state, can be attributed to poor drainage system, indiscriminate waste disposal, deforestation and heavy rainfall due to climate change.

This paper therefore intends to look at the menace of flooding in Ikere community and to suggest ways to prevent and mitigate flood disaster in a sustainable way.

1. Introduction

Floods are the most common natural disaster in both developed and developing countries. Floods impact on both individuals and communities and have social, economic and environmental consequences. The consequences of flood vary greatly depending on the location, duration, depth and speed as well as the vulnerability and value of the affected natural and constructed environments. 

The most immediate impacts of flooding include loss of life, damage to properties, destruction of crops, loss of livestock and deterioration of health conditions owing to waterborne diseases. Floods can also lead to damage to communication links and infrastructures such as power plants, roads and bridges, putting some economic activities to a standstill and leading to loss of livelihood forcing people to leave their homes and normal lives. Floods can also traumatize victims and their families for long periods of time. The loss of loved ones has deep impacts, especially on children. Displacement from one’s home, loss of property and disruption to business and social affairs can cause continuing stress. For some people, the psychological impacts can be long lasting.

Regardless of where the stormwater runoff occurs, it can carry with it harmful contaminants such as pesticides, animal waste, chemicals. The impacts of flood to water systems and water quality are often not as visible as the damage to property or the landscape. Sarah and Herbert (2019) opined that flood can increase contamination of water, by inundating water wells and disrupt or damage well or water supply infrastructure and directly introduce the contaminated water into the well. Natural disasters such as flooding tends to impose tremendous influence on social order in any affected communities. In addition, damage and losses on infrastructure usually shift the attention of formal and informal security institutions from maintaining social order to coping and recovery measures. This increases the vulnerability of the affected communities to criminal activities. Furthermore, when a community gets flooded after an intense rainfall, the focus is on the breakdown of public services such as closing of schools and difficulty in transportation, among others. While these problems bring the community to a halt and make news for a few days, what is usually missing is the focus on who gets the worst hit.  

Although flood is a natural phenomenon caused by antecedents such as heavy rain drops, in recent times, other human induced factors such as; climate change, deforestation, land use changes, uncontrolled urban growth, inadequate and poorly-maintained drainage systems and poor solid waste management practices have been listed as the drivers of flood disaster in Nigeria. Many Nigerian cities expand at a rate much faster than flood risk management plans are developed and infrastructures are inevitable. Existing systems are additionally ill equipped to accommodate changing and increasing runoff patterns. These pressures are felt the most acutely in informal settlements in developing cities, where impromptu dwellings often expand into flood-prone, low-lying areas or existing drainage channels. 

Solid waste management has become an intractable problem beyond the capacity of most municipal/state governments in developing countries. Due to the lack of waste collection services, alternatives and awareness of health and sanitation concerns, residents resort to routinely dumping of waste in drainage channels, or in streets and local refuse dumps where it is eventually washed into drainage channels. A recent addition to the problem is the widespread consumption of single use plastics such as; ‘sachet water’, sold in polythene bags, bottled water and takeaway plates. These are major sources of plastic waste as they often end up accumulating and blocking drains. Climatic changes caused by human practices also add to the risk of flooding. Human beings cut trees in large numbers, thus increasing the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which in turn, gives rise to changes in climate and poses threats of natural disasters like floods. In addition, land use changes arising from urbanization, deforestation and cultivation increased flood frequency and severity by reducing infiltration capacity, lowering of soil porosity and loss of vegetation. 

Indiscriminate waste disposal, poor drainage system, poor town planning and deforestation were among the major observations made by the management of Triple Green Environmental Development Foundation (TGED Foundation) during their sensitization and awareness campaign on flood preparedness and mitigation in Ikere and its environs’ on the 17th of September 2021. The campaign was aimed at raising awareness on the causes and impacts of flood disaster as well as to encourage mitigation and adaptation measures to be taken before, during and after flood occurrence.

Ikere and its environs have suffered from severe impact of flooding in the past and these impacts of flood have rendered many people homeless while property worth millions of Naira have been destroyed. It was based on this ground that TGED Foundation took it upon herself  to embark on these study in other to determine the factors contributing to flooding in Ikere community, the frequency of flood occurrence in the area, the environmental, economic and social impact of flooding and also, to determine their level of environmental awareness while employing the use of observation method, questionnaire and Geographic Information System (GIS), in other to arrive at sustainable solutions to the menace of flooding in Ikere community and Ekiti State at large. 

2. Description of the Area

Ikere-Ekiti also called Ikere is the second largest city in Ekiti State, South West Nigeria (figure 1). It lies on latitude 7o29’50.93’’N and Longitude 5o13’49.48’’N and it is situated in an elevation of 381 meters above sea level. Ikere is an agrarian community, a major collecting point for cocoa and also serves as an agricultural trade center for yams, palm oil, cassava, rice and maize, with a total land mass area of about 202.38sq kilometers. An important feature of the town is the large number of hills it possesses, notably the Olosunta, Ugele and Orole Inselberg hills. Ikere is bounded in the north by Ado-Ekiti, in the south by Akure North Local Government and in the east and west by Ise/Orun and Ekiti South-west Local Governments respectively. The 2006 National Census puts the population of Ikere-Ekiti to be 147,255 people.

Ikere Ekiti experiences a tropical climate with distinct wet and dry seasons. The wet and dry seasons are associated with the prevalence of the most maritime south westerly monsoon winds from the Atlantic Ocean and the dry continental north easterly harmattan winds from the Sahara deserts respectively. The rainy season spans from April – October and the dry season spans from November – March. Temperature is almost uniform throughout the year with very little deviation from the mean annual temperature of 27oC. February and March are the hottest months with mean temperatures of 27oC and 28oC respectively. The mean annual total rainfall is 1367mm with a low coefficient of variation of about 10%. Some of the rocks that are granitic in nature are also used for construction activities.          

2.1 Slope of Study Area

The Digital Elevation Model (DEM) gotten from ASTERDEM was used to develop the slope of the study area (Figure 2). The relief of an area plays a very significant role in the occurrence of flood disaster in a particular area. Since water responds to slope, a hilly area will discharge its water to lower elevation areas. The study area has a combination of high, low and undulating terrain. The western and center part of the area has a relatively high elevation which discharge water into near moderate or gentle sloppy areas. This terrain pattern justifies why a highly prone areas to flood are more pronounced in the central and western part of the area.

2.2 Stream Order of Study Area

Drainage is an important physical factor that greatly contributes to flood disaster. The stream order is also important in the evaluation of flood’s impact over an area occurrence. Therefore, strahler stream ordering system was used to order the entire drainages of the study area (figure 3). This stream ordering system shows seven stream orders for the entire study area but was reclassified to three. The lowest order is “1” while the highest order is “3”

2.3 Landuse/Landcover of the Study Area

The analysis shows that bare land cover an area of 96.6 km² and percentage of 47.99 %, follow by vegetation which covers an area of 52.02 km² and percentage of 25.83%, water-body cover an area of 37.24 km² and percentage of 18%, and built-up within the study area covers an area of about 15.44 km² and a percentage of 7.66 % km² (figure 4).The built up areas contribute to flooding as a result of too many people building on flood plains which results to the alteration of natural drainage channel and also dumping of refuse indiscriminately in drainage channels, as was observed during the field visit which results to blockage of the existing drainage channels.

2.4 Euclidian Distance of Study Area

Euclidean distance shows the Euclidean distance of the study area which is the closeness to the water body or water channel. From the map below (figure 5), the yellowish portion is closer to the river channel follow by the pink portion and lastly the blue portion.

2.5 Flood Vulnerability Map

To produce the flood vulnerability map of the area (figure 6), Geographical Information System (GIS) was integrated with Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) method and was used to analyses the flood vulnerable areas. The analysis shows that the area cover with red is highly vulnerable to flood, the second aspect of the map which cover with yellow is moderately vulnerable to flood while the last portion of the map covered with green is slightly vulnerable to flood. The portion clearly shows areas that are at risk of a high vulnerability to flooding within the study area. These areas are at high risk of flooding basically. Due to the nature of the slope within the area, distance to flow direction, soil texture, building on flood plains and also dumping of refuse indiscriminately in drainage channels, which results to blockage of the existing drainage channels.

3. Questionnaire Data Presentation

The questionnaire was categorized into four sections; the first section shows the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents, the second section shows the respondents experience, the third section indicates the impact of flooding on the environment and livelihood activities and the fourth section highlighted the respondent’s level of environmental awareness. Using Fisher’s formula for sample size determination, the sample size of Ikere was 96. However, a total of 120 questionnaires were administered and 117 questionnaires were returned. The data derived through the administration of questionnaires are presented using tables, pie charts and multiple line graphs.

3.1 Socio-Demographic Characteristics

The study analyzed the socio-economic characteristics of people affected by flooding in Ikere-Ekiti, using specific variables such as sex, age, marital status, occupation, annual income and period settled in the area. Table 3.1 represents the socio-demographic characteristics of respondents.

Table 3.1: Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Respondents.

From the data collected, it is evident that a large population of the respondents are female with 65% and 35% were male. Households headed by women are highly vulnerable to natural disasters, especially flood events. This is because most of them are widows and frail elderly women. They are disproportionately employed in unpaid, underpaid and non-formal sectors of the economy. Inheritance laws and traditional marriage arrangements, social patterns that reinforce women’s dependence on fathers, husbands and sons all contribute both to their unfavorable access to resources and their lack of power to change things. Women heading households create social conditions which leave women in substandard housing, socially marginalized, impoverished or economically insecure, overburdened with caregiving responsibilities and lacking social power and political voice. These conditions subject women heading households to a state where they are less able to receive and/or act on disaster warnings or recovery information. This increases their level of vulnerability to flood disaster implications such as exposure to violent crime.      

The age structure shows that 26% of the respondents were between the ages of 18-30 years, 41% were between 31-40 years, 24% were between 41-40 years and 9% fall under the ages of 50 years and above.  The age structure of the respondents is made up of young and pre-middle age persons.  It is evident from the study that the majority of the respondents are youths who are active economically and socially. This implies that most of the respondents are vulnerable economically and socially to flooding in the area and this might result in more youth’s involvement in violent crime.

The marital status of the respondents indicated that 23% of the respondents were single, 65% were married, 12% were widowed and none were divorced or separated. This is an indication that married household heads could mean larger household size and may create higher liabilities in distress situations due to flood disaster.

The study also revealed that more than half of the respondents (21%) and (20%) are middle and low income earners who earn about N11,000-20,000 and N50,000 and above annually. This is an indication that the respondents may not be financially capable or have the necessary resources to cope with the flood disaster.  In addition, the study also revealed that 65% of the respondents have lived in the area for more than 15 years and above. This is an indication that the majority of the respondents have stayed for a period of time long enough for them to have experienced at least 3-5 floods in the area.  

3.2 Respondents Experience

The study analyzed the experience of the people affected by flooding in Ikere-Ekiti, using specific variables such as frequency of flood occurrence, major causes of flood, and human factors contributing to flooding in the area. Figure 7 – 9 represents the respondent’s experience. 

3.2.1 Frequency of Flood Occurrence

The result of the study indicated that 50% of the respondents claimed to experience flood 4-6 times annually, 46% said 1-3 times, 2% said 7-9 times and another 2% said10 times and above. From the result, it is evident that the area suffers from the severe impact of flooding. The frequency of flooding depends on the region, for example, areas like floodplains are more prone to flooding every year. This result can be related to the flood vulnerability map on figure 6. The flood vulnerability map indicated that majority of the study area are prone to the severe impact of flooding due to the slope of the environment and flood plain encroachment.

3.2.3 Major Causes of Flood in the Area

The data obtained shows that poor drainage system was identified as one of the major factors contributing to flooding in the area with (52%). This is followed by indiscriminate waste disposal (23%), prolonged heavy rainfall (22%) and lastly deforestation with (3%). This result confirms the observations made during the field visit. During the visit, it was observed that most of the areas lacked good drainage channels to allow the free flow of water and the existing ones were already silted with solid waste and sand debris as a result of the bad practices of disposing waste inside the drainage channels.

3.2.4 Human Factors contributing to Flooding

Although flood is a natural phenomenon, it is no news that human factors contributes to flooding. The study revealed that 74% of the respondents acknowledge the fact that some of their activities were also a contributing factor to the issue of flooding in the area while 26% decline to the fact that their activities has any link to flooding. Those that agreed claimed that indiscriminate waste disposal such as dumping of waste inside the drainage when it rains was the major anthropogenic factor leading to flooding in the area. This was followed by deforestation with and flood plain encroachment.

3.3 Impacts of Flooding on the Environment and Livelihood Activities

The study analyzed the impacts of flooding on the environment and livelihood activities using specific variables such as impacts of flooding on the environment, livelihood activities, social vices and flood vulnerability. The data is presented on figure 10-14.

3.3.1 Impact of Flooding on Livelihood

The study revealed that loss of properties (87%) is one of the most severe impacts of flooding in the area. This is followed by economic losses with 6%, loss of lives with 4%, diseases out break with 2% and injury1%. The reason for this can be attributed flood plain encroachment. The people seems to have little or no knowledge that building on flood plains makes them more vulnerable to flood attack and this in turn results to the destruction of properties worth millions of money.

3.3.2 Impact of Flood on the Natural Environment

Flooding has a range of impact on the environment. From the result of the study, 60% of the respondent claimed that the impact of flooding in the area has resulted to surface and ground water pollution, while 32% noted that flooding in the area resulted to loss of farmland. The remaining 8% were of the view that flooding leads to land degradation. The implication of this is that if contaminated water are consumed by household, it can results to health implications such as cholera, typhoid, dysentery, Hepatitis A and in most extreme cases, it can result to gastrointestinal illnesses, nervous system or reproductive effects, and chronic diseases such as cancer.

3.3.3 Impact of Flooding on Economic Sector

Flood event have negative impact on different sectors of the economy. The result of the study shows that the housing sector (51%) is the most affected by flood in the area. This is followed by agricultural sector 26%, education 11%, transport 8% and the health sector 4%. The implication of this is that they will be a decrease in property values as flood can result in significant damage to properties and hence decline in value.

3.3.4 Flood Vulnerability

The result of the study showed that 54% of the respondents agreed that the elderly people were the most vulnerable to the impact of flooding, this is followed by children with 38%, women with 7% and youths with 1%. This intensified risk of the elderly people is due to them being physically frail and having limited sensory abilities and restricted mobility. Children on the other hand can experience physical and psychological trauma related to the loss of parents and/or relatives, destruction of homes and toys, resettlement and change of schools as well as parental unemployment and substance abuse.

3.3.5 Flooding and Social Vices

From the result of the study, 61% of the respondents agreed that flooding in the area give raise to social vices while 39% disagreed. Those that agreed pointed to the fact that flooding results to incidence of armed robbery, kidnapping, Gender Base Violence and cultism. Natural disasters impose tremendous influence on social order in any affected communities. Damage and loses on infrastructure usually shift the attention of formal and informal security institutions from maintaining social order to coping and recovery measures. This increases the vulnerability of the affected communities to criminal activities.

3.4 Level of Environmental Awareness

The study also analyzed the level of environmental awareness of the respondents. Table 3.2 represents data from the study.

Table 3.2: Level of Environmental Awareness

From the data collected on the respondent’s level of awareness on the bad practices of indiscriminate waste disposal, the study revealed that 95% percent agreed that indiscriminate waste disposal can give rise to flooding by blocking drainage while 5% said that they were not aware.  It is one thing to be aware; it is another thing to take action. Although majority of the respondents claim to be aware of the environmental havoc caused by indiscriminate waste disposal. The question remains how many are willing to take action in making sure that their wastes are properly disposed of. 

From the result of the study, 85% of the respondents claim to be aware that building on flood plain area makes them vulnerable to flooding while 15% said that they were not aware of the fact that building on flood plain zone makes them more susceptible to flood attack. Although the majority of the respondents claim to be aware but yet they still find themselves living in floodplain areas. The reason for this is because property values are lower inside floodplains than outside floodplains and is likely the case among low income earners. 

The study shows that 53% of the respondents had no knowledge that deforestation can result in flooding, while 47% of the respondents agreed to the fact that deforestation has a link to flooding and other environmental disasters. The reason for lack of awareness can be attributed to the fact that some people are completely unaware of the environmental crisis while others don’t believe that environmental issues such as flooding can arise as a result of human actions such as deforestation.   

The study revealed that 52% of the respondents barely had time to listen to weather forecasts either on the radio or television. The remaining 48% said that they listen to but not consistently. The reason for this is because people have failed to realize the importance of listening to the weather forecast. Now more than ever people need to understand the importance of weather reports. Weather reports help provide accurate and possible predictions of what the weather will be like in the near future. This report helps us to put in place precautionary measures that would in turn save lives and properties.    

The study revealed that 70% of the respondents had no idea of the safety measures to be undertaken before, during and after flood while 30% on the other hand claim to be aware of some safety measures to be undertaken. Those that claim to be aware were of the view that the necessary things to do during flood were to secure properties and evacuate the area during flood. More needs to be done as regards to these; people need to be aware that aside from securing lives and properties, they are other safety measures that can be put in place before, during and after flood occurrence.   

4. Summary of Findings

A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) obtained from ASTERDEM was used to develop the slope of the study area (figure 2). The model reveals that the study area has a combination of high, low and undulating terrain. The western and center part of the area has a relatively high elevation which discharges water into near moderate or gentle sloppy areas. This terrain pattern justifies why highly prone areas to flood are more pronounced in the central and western part of the area. In addition, the analysis using GIS also shows that bare land of the area covers an area of 96.6 km² and percentage of 47.99 %, follow by vegetation which covers an area of 52.02 km² and percentage of 25.83%, water-body cover an area of 37.24 km² and percentage of 18%, and built-up within the study area covers an area of about 15.44 km²  and a percentage of 7.66 % km² (figure 4). From the analysis, it is evident that the built up areas contribute  to flooding as a result of too many people building on flood plains which results in the alteration of natural drainage channels and also dumping of refuse indiscriminately in drainage channels, which results in blockage of the existing drainage channels. In addition, GIS was integrated with the Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) method and was used to analyze the flood vulnerability areas (figure 6). The map clearly shows a high vulnerability to flooding within the study area and this is due to the nature of the slope within the area, distance to flow direction, soil texture, building on flood plains and also dumping of refuse indiscriminately in drainage channels, which results in blockage of the existing drainage channels.

Furthermore, the study revealed that 74% of the respondents acknowledge the fact that some of their activities were contributing to flooding in the area while 26% decline to the fact that their activities have any link to flooding. Those that agreed claimed that indiscriminate waste disposal such as dumping of waste inside the drainage when it rains was the major anthropogenic factor leading to flooding in the area. This was followed by deforestation and floodplain encroachment. Also, from the result of the study, loss of properties (87%) was identified as one of the most severe impacts of flooding in the area. This was followed by economic losses with 6%, loss of lives with 4%, diseases outbreak with 2% and injury1%. The reason for this can be attributed to floodplain encroachment. 

The study also revealed that 60% of the respondents claimed that the impact of flooding in the area has resulted in surface and groundwater pollution, while 32% noted that flooding in the area resulted in loss of farmland. The remaining 8% were of the view that flooding leads to land degradation. In addition, the result of the study shows that the housing sector (51%) is the most affected by floods in the area. This is followed by the agricultural sector 26%, education 11%, transport 8% and the health sector 4%.

From the study, the result shows that 54% of the respondents agreed that the elderly people were the most vulnerable to the impact of flooding; this is followed by children with 38%, women with 7% and youths with 1%. Furthermore, the study also revealed that 61% of the respondents agreed that flooding in the area gave rise to social vices while 39% disagreed. Those that agreed pointed to the fact that flooding results in incidence of armed robbery, kidnapping, gender based violence and cultism. 

From the data collected on the respondent’s level of awareness on the bad practices of indiscriminate waste disposal, the study revealed that 95% percent agreed that indiscriminate waste disposal can give rise to flooding by blocking drainage. In addition, 85% of the respondents claim to be aware that building on flood plain area makes them vulnerable to flooding. The study also revealed that 53% of the respondents had no knowledge that deforestation can result in flooding while 52% of the respondents claim that they barely had time to listen to weather forecasts either on the radio or television. Furthermore, the study revealed that 70% of the respondents had no idea of the safety measures to be undertaken before, during and after the flood. 

6. Conclusion and Recommendation

From the findings, it can be concluded that there are environmental and public health implications among residents of the Ikere community as a result of the severe impact of flooding. Thus, it is certain that factors responsible for flooding in the area can be attributed to poor drainage system, indiscriminate waste disposal, deforestation and floodplain encroachment.  In a flood prone region such as Ikere, all sectors including property owners, businesses, schools, government sectors, need to understand the risk of flooding and also safety measures to be undertaken during and after flood occurrence. Therefore, based on these findings, the following recommendations are made;

1. Enforcement of town planning codes by the government to allow for the appropriate construction of houses, and drainage structures. 
2. NGOs and various media organizations including radio, television, magazines, and newspapers should complement the government’s efforts to sensitize the residents on climate change and the dangers associated with indiscriminate waste disposal, to bring a change in their attitude towards dumping of waste into drainage.
3. Community effort targeted towards clearing of drainages and waterways from obstructions should be organized to complement government efforts.
4. The government and other responsible waste management agencies should provide adequate refuse dumping facilities as this will help reduce the indiscriminate dumping of waste along the streets, roads and drainage system. 
5. Afforestation programs should be encouraged at all levels, as this will go a long way to help reduce flood risk and erosion.
6. There is also an urgent need for a local flood emergency response team to be formed, this team will be charged with the responsibility of securing lives and properties before, during a flood disaster before the arrival of government officials .

Background Materials

Sarah, L., and Herbert, H. (2019). Impacts of Flooding on drinking water access in Dares Salaam, Tanzania: Implications for the Sustainable Development Goals. J Water, Sanitation and Hygiene,  11(5):693-701 

Brian Lucas Research Consultant (2021). Urban Flood Risks, Impacts and Management in Nigeria

APPENDIX1

APPENDIX B

Fisher’s Formula for Sample Size determination 

n = Sample Size 

population ˃10,000

n = z2p(1-p)     (n = z2pq)

         I2                     d2        

 n = Sample Size 

z  = normal derivation at the desired confidence interval for a 95% CI, z = 1.96

P = proportion of the pop with the desired characteristics 

Q = Proportion of Pop. With the characteristics desired 

When the proportion of the population with the characteristics is not known, 50% can be used

D or I = degree of precision at10%

Z = 1.962 x 0.5 x 0.5 

    0.1 x 0.1

  = 1.96 x 1.96 x 0.5 x 0.5 

     0.1 x 0.1

n = 96