Health and environmental implications of flooding prevalence on the people of Khana Local Government Area, Rivers State

Abstract

Flooding had a far-reaching implication on mankind causing extensive damage affecting human settlement and infrastructure. It is one of the common natural disasters that has serious impairment on the environment and health of the people. This study investigated the prevalence of flooding and its health and environmental implications on the people of Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design and the population of the study consisted of the people of Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State. Stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used to select 250 participants for the study. Data was collected using a self-developed and structured questionnaire titled ’Health and Environmental implication of flooding questionnaire with a reliability coefficient of 0.94. Data were analyzed using frequencies and percentages for socio-demographic data and research questions while a t-test was used for testing the hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study showed that the prevalence of flooding in the area was moderate (40.7%) The findings of the study also showed that the health implications of flooding are enormous as the majority (89.0%) of the respondents indicated that flooding contributes to loss of human and animal lives; Also, (83.7%) of the population attested to the fact that flooding contributes to the spread of diseases while (82.1%) of the respondents indicated that flooding leads to drowning. The result also showed that flooding comes with many environmental implications especially the destruction of farmlands and properties. There was a significant difference in the perceived implications of flooding based on gender and location respectively. The study recommended among others that community stakeholders and youth leaders should embark on health and environmental awareness campaigns on the dangers of flooding in an area.