Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 3. Major roads and residential properties damaged by floods in Lagos State.
Despite these efforts, the region still suffers from flood disaster annually
(mostly in the wet season). The stark reality is that flooding in littoral cities
with particularly reference to sub-Saharan Africa is difficult to prevent
because of too numerous natural and anthropogenic factors.
The effect of climate change has further heightened the issue-increasing
temperature and rainfall. The best practice is to reduce risk and vulnerability
through permanent evacuation and relocation of activities from flood prone
areas and declare such areas as unsafe zones for human inhabitation.
Hence, the flood prone areas must be identified spatially by producing
well synthesized flood risk map and geospatial database system for sustainable
development. A peculiar area with respect to flood frequency and magnitude,
is the River Ogun floodplain. This floodplain is notorious for high degree of
submergence (Figure 4) and its effect cut across many large surrounding
communities such as Ikorodu, Ajegunle, Magodu, Mile 12, Owode-Elede,
Ibeje, Oworonsoki, Ajelogo, Maiden, Agboyi, Odo-Ogun etc.
Studies have reported (Olajuyigbe et al., 2012 and Oyinloye et al., 2013)
that the fundamental causes of perennial flood hazard in this floodplain are in
two folds: the first is the release of excess water (accumulated from heavy
