Impact of Urban Housing Flood in Ondo, Nigeria

Abstract

Urbanization is the awkward growth of the urban population caused by lack of provision of infrastructural facilities and poor economic statuses in the rural areas. The urge for better standard of living push people to urban centers from the said rural but the level of penury and economics status to meet basic end means of shelter, food and clothing in the order of priority denied the migrants accessibility to buildable land thus, overcrowding the existing housing stock, frustration from high cost of housing and rents among others tended the vulnerable to move and relocate to available marginal and flooding prone milieu with an unplanned urban built. The foremost factors of urban housing flood are caused by anthropogenic in nature while others are relevant to meteorological, climatological, and geomorphological tectonics. Flooding is a situation that results when land that is usually dry is covered with water of river overflowing or heavy rain. Flooding occurs naturally on the flood plains which are prone to disaster. It occurs when water in the river overflows its banks. It has not only left several people homeless but also has destroyed properties, disrupted business activities, expose residents to an impending cholera, diarrhea, malaria, skin infections and other water-borne diseases epidemic. The aim is to examine urban housing vulnerability to flood in Ondo, Nigeria through the relationship which exists between poor housing quality implications and flooding. Data were collected by direct observation, questionnaires and personal interviews from a sample population of 126 houses in the flooded prone area. This paper intends to look at the causes, impact of urban housing flood and suggest ways to prevent flood disaster in a sustainable way. This paper recommends: an awareness and re-orientation program for residents of flood prone area, plains and other related marginal lands in Ondo; a total clearance of all the encroaching buildings in the corridor and resettlement of all affected households is canvassed for sustainable urban development. The town planning authority should enforce restrictions of buildings on floodplains of the river because of their vulnerability to flood catastrophe. Given the increasing intensity of flooded plains, this study recommends the need for further study on the impact of other urban furniture flood in the urban center.

Keywords: Flood, Housing, Urbanization, Ondo, Nigeria.