CHAPTER ONE1.0: INTRODUCTION1.1: Background of the StudyFlood is a predominant natural and human induced hazards in Nigeria. Flood according to Aderogba (2012b) is a situation that result when a high rate of rainfall or precipitation, where the rates of absorption is low that causes bank of rivers or seas flowing over its usual limits. He classified flooding into two types in Nigeria: (1). High Frequency Flood which is called the annual flooding in Nigeria and are very rapid or short-term cause of flooding along the coastal areas especially in Lagos, Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa, Cross-rivers and Anambra west local government area. (2). Low Frequency Flood, these are those ones that normally occur in other various parts of Nigeria apart from the coastal flood areas and are slow-long term duration that occurs in Adamawa, Gombe, Jigawa amongst others. In contemporary times, flood has become a common hazard not only in the low-lying coastal environment like Lagos, Rivers, Delta States and etc but also in the hinterland places like Ekiti, Oyo, Osun, Kwara, Niger, Kogi, Benue, Taraba, Adamawa, Gombe, Imo, Enugu, and Anambra state. Some of these places often experience flood during heavy rainfall events.According to Resonzweig (2009), flood can be defined as an unusual accumulation of water above the ground, which is caused by high tides, heavy rainfall, or rapid run-off from paved surface. Flood is mainly an environmental hazard of meteorological phenomenon but very often, it could be induced by human’s improper utilization or abuse of the physical environment.Floods result when a stream runs out of its confines and submerges the surrounding environment (Stephen, 2011). Similarly, Kates (1985) defines floods as an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. European Union (1985) sees flooding as a temporal covering of land by water, not covered by water before the incidence. Although flood may be temporal as suggested by the European Union (1985), its effects may not be temporal when such occurrence claims several lives and properties. Flood not only affects the victims but also has great effects on the national economy where poverty level tends to rise due to the incidence.Therefore, the vision of Nigeria to be among the top twenty economy in the world by the year 2020 may be a mirage, if lives and property are not safe from the frequent occurrence of flooding in the country as floods is one of the major factors that have been preventing Africa’s population from escaping poverty level (Action Aid, 2006).Halley (2001) identifies the major causes of flooding in Africa to be inadequacy of drainage. On the contrary, the major causes of flooding in Nigeria have been identified to be excessive rainfall (Taiwo, 2008; Akanin and Bilesanmi, 2011; Aderogba, 2012). Meanwhile, flood usually occurs when there is a continuous downpour of rain for a long period of time and the resultant excess water has the capacity beyond what the available drainage can easily convey due to its inadequacy or blockage of drainage basin. There are three schools of thought about the preponderance of floods all over the globe especially in the tropics. The first school of thought is that, there is global warming and climate change that is directly or indirectly increasing the amount of rain and ice melting that is increasing the amount of runoff. In this case, the only source of water that results in great floods in West Africa and indeed, Communities in Anambra West Local Government area will be rain water. The second school of thought is that, there have been a lot of abuses heaped on the physical environment by man; and that the environment is now responding to these abuses heaped on it. These abuses includes but not limited to poor planning of the physical environment, poor wastes management, inadequate drainages for the built up areas and others. The third school of thought has it that, it is the combination of global warming, climate change and the abuses of the environment by man that are the causes of prolonged and torrential rains and the resultants runoff that has lead to the devastating effects of flooding in America, Europe, Africa – including Nigeria; and Communities in Anambra West Local Government Area. However, the facts behind the three schools of thought are yet to be thoroughly researched and confirmed (Dow and Dowing, 2006).In the last 30 years, Nigerian cities have experienced great physical development in terms of building, construction and reconstruction of roads, offices, markets and stores, manufacturing industries and others without any appreciable infrastructures such as drainages for roads and canals to support them (Aderogba, 2012), and these have made floods to be a call for concern in the country. Floods experienced in time past just like the havoc caused by the flood incidence of Ogunpa river in Ibadan, Nigeria in 1980 are still a cause of sorrow for many victims where several lives were lost and properties worth millions of Naira went into air, people who were bourgeois became proletariat in a twinkling of an eye. So, flood in Nigeria has done more harm without any notice of benefit. Some report also have it that over one million Nigerians may die due to the effects of floods before 2015 if no precautionary measures are not put in place.

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