Flood fatalities in Africa: From diagnosis to mitigation

TLDR

Flood‑related fatalities and economic losses in Africa have risen dramatically over the past half‑century, raising global concern about identifying the causes of increased flood damage. To this end, we analyze a large, consistent and reliable dataset of floods in Africa. The study uses a comprehensive, reliable dataset of African floods to investigate causal factors. Intensive, unplanned human settlements in flood‑prone areas significantly increase flood risk, and timely, economically sustainable actions such as discouraging such settlements and implementing early warning systems are urgently needed.

Abstract

Flood‐related fatalities in Africa, as well as associated economic losses, have increased dramatically over the past half‐century. There is a growing global concern about the need to identify the causes for such increased flood damages. To this end, we analyze a large, consistent and reliable dataset of floods in Africa. Identification of causes is not easy given the diverse economic settings, demographic distribution and hydro‐climatic conditions of the African continent. On the other hand, many African river basins have a relatively low level of human disturbance and, therefore, provide a unique opportunity to analyze climatic effects on floods. We find that intensive and unplanned human settlements in flood‐prone areas appears to be playing a major role in increasing flood risk. Timely and economically sustainable actions, such as the discouragement of human settlements in flood‐prone areas and the introduction of early warning systems are, therefore, urgently needed.