Causes, impacts and coping strategies of floods in Ghana: a systematic review

Abstract

Urban flooding has become a major problem in many parts of the world due to its social, economic and environmental impact. In Ghana, flood occurs every year, which adversely affects livelihoods, property, infrastructure, lives and renders many people homeless. In this paper, we aim to understand the current state of flood research in Ghana, focusing on how the scholarly community has approached the causes, effects/impact, and the coping strategies adopted by people in the urban setting. Drawing on a comprehensive literature review, combined with individual co-author in-depth experience in research and practice in Ghana, we searched academic database such as SCOPUS, Web of Science, Springer, Taylor and Francis, Science Direct and Google scholar for recent studies. Our results, on the basis of 33 articles, indicate that poor urban planning and development (number of reported articles, n = 18), poor and inadequate drainage facilities (n = 11), poor environmental attitude (n = 10) and extreme rainfall (n = 8) are the top causes of urban flood in Ghana. The most commonly reported impacts/effects were physical cost (n = 7), destruction of economic infrastructure (n = 5) and health concerns (n = 4). The most reported coping strategies were relocation and protection of properties (n = 9) and construction of drains (n = 8). The review also pointed out critical research gaps in the context of Ghana and suggested a new area for future research direction and practice.

Flood Disaster Risk Perception and Urban Households’ Flood Disaster Preparedness: The Case of Accra Metropolis in Ghana

“…Karley [51] explained further that the informal urbanization growth rate and increased unplanned settlements in dangerous wetlands and flood plains expose the city and the populace to perpetual flood disaster threats. Several researchers have discussed the current vulnerability and future risks the city faces from the river and coastal floods [11,12,[31][32][33][34][35][36]38,39,51]. Nyarko [52] used hydrological models and geographic information systems in his study on floods and concluded that the city's spatial coverage is composed of 6.1% very high-risk zones, 35.7% high-risk zones, and 41.8% zones exposed to flood danger.…”

“…Despite understanding the factors influencing FDP, little empirical research has been conducted on this issue in developing nations, and in the case of Ghana very little is known. Furthermore, the country has been left out of the significant attention researchers across the globe have paid to flood risk perception and the role it plays in FDM, with the existing studies highly focused on the causes, nature, and effects of flood disasters [11,[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]. Other studies have also paid attention to the roles of institutions and stakeholders in communities in making effective decisions and strategic plans [31,39].…”

Resilience to climate change in Ghanaian cities and its implications for urban policy and planning

“…Much of this information is scattered in the literature. Limited discussion about building resilience in key areas such as land-use planning, infrastructure, institutions and community engagement is necessary for building resilient cities in Ghana (Poku-Boansi and Cobbinah 2018;Cobbinah et al 2019;Mensah and Ahadzie 2020). For example, Cobbinah and Poku-Boansi (2018) reveal that there is the absence of clear resilience principles in the guidelines used for plan preparation in Ghana, as well as the lack of resilient infrastructure in Ghanaian cities.…”

“…Extreme events such as rainfall and temperature result in flood, heat and drought (SeeAhadzie and Proverbs 2010;Mensah and Ahadzie 2020; …”

“…Campion and Venzke 2013;Owusu Twum and Abubakari 2019;Mensah and Ahadzie 2020) such as roadside drainage systems to avoid road spills and prevent flooding of nearby houses, continuous housing restructuring, construction of communal drains and creation of a local evacuation team. However, due to limited funds, its continuity has been hindered and coverage limited.…”