Paper
Combating Flood Crisis Using GIS: Empirical Evidences from Ala River Floodplain, Isikan Area, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria
- Authors:
- Babalola Sunday Oyetayo; Oluwadare Isaac Olamiju; Michael Ajide Oyinloye
- Abstract
- Natural hazards have become an issue of growing concern throughout the world. The magnitude of the related disasters, threatening large population living in diverse environments show a dramatic rise everywhere in recent years. Due to structural growth and the booming economics activities within the flood plain of River Ala in Akure, Nigeria has induced flooding in this city, with subsequent loss of properties, life and human settlement. The objectives of the paper were to determine the causes of flooding in the area; identify areas where activities and development need to be monitored and to devise a workable framework for managing flood problems in the study area. For this study, a SPOT imagery of the area was acquired. ArcGIS 9.0 software was employed to obtain information by the process of digitizing the SPOT imagery for the purpose of delineating River Ala flood plain. The results obtained implicated dumpsites within the river channel as well as structural development within the River Ala flood plain as the major causes of environmental hazards in this section of the city, especially during rain period. The study recommends structural and non-structural strategies for mitigating the effects of flooding on the residents and infrastructures. Structural measures in terms of construction of levee and flood walls along river channel to protect the buildings are most vulnerable. Non-structural measures include landuse planning and legislation against encroachment on flood plains.
- Keywords
- Environmental Hazards; Geographical Information Systems (GIS); Flood crisis; Nigeria
- StartPage
- 439
- EndPage
- 447
- Doi