The long-term health impacts of repeated flood events

Abstract

During the past 30 years, floods have resulted in over 200,000 fatalities and affected more than 2.8 billion others worldwide. Flood victims are vulnerable to long-term physical and psychological health effects, which persist for an undefined time period in the aftermath of a flood event. Following a flood event, secondary stressors, which are indirectly related to the event, can potentially prolong and intensify the health impacts on affected individuals and communities. These secondary stressors consist of economic stressors, including loss of income, but also social stressors such as isolation due to prolonged flooding. A significant gap in the research to date is in relation to repeated flooding and its impact on the extent to which individuals are affected by these secondary stressors. This review examined studies focusing on repeated flooding, concentrating on the secondary stressors resulting from repeated flood events. It also considered the awareness, preparedness and resilience of the study populations in order to determine the potential for these communities to be impacted by secondary stressors. This review indicated that both rural and urban communities in developed and developing countries are significantly affected by economic, social and psychological secondary stressors. The majority of communities do have a basic awareness of flood risk; however, many residents do not take flood risk seriously and thus take little preventative action. Community resilience was higher in urban and rural areas in developing countries, but also in rural areas in developed countries. Future work should take into consideration the secondary stressors that affect different communities and how to minimise their impact in order to increase resilience.

Flood-Exposure is Associated with Higher Prevalence of Child Undernutrition in Rural Eastern India

“…Given that a nearly two-fold difference in the prevalence of severe wasting was observed in those communities repeatedly flooded relative to those flooded in 2008 (aPR: 1.92; 95% CI: 0.95, 3.86), could repeated exposure to floods increase a child’s susceptibility to severe forms of malnutrition? We did not find much evidence on if and how repeated flooding can impact children’s physical health [ 5 ]. Some evidence suggest that the likelihood of mental health problems in children affected by disasters ( i.e.…”

“…Despite their potential burden to society, the consequences of floods on human health remain rarely investigated, and the few studies that do suggest increased short-term risks of mortality, injury, certain communicable diseases and psychosocial trauma [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]. Our understanding of the long-term health consequences of flooding and recurrent floods is even more limited [ 2 , 3 , 5 ]. Moreover, the impacts of flooding on nutritional health are likely to be quite severe among young children in developing countries [ 6 , 7 , 8 ].…”

Testing the public’s response to receiving severe flood warnings using simulated cell broadcast

“…The differential impacts of additional vulnerability and sensitivity are a notable thread throughout our data. The cumulative impact of repeated flood experiences has already been well documented (see for example Wind et al 2013;Lamond 2014;Stephenson et al 2014;Foudi et al 2017). During our workshops, participants with flood experience retold their own flood stories, noting how difficult it was to remain focussed on priority actions when under stress.…”

Perceptions and deeply held beliefs about responsibility for flood risk adaptation in Accra Ghana

“…Analyses of adaptation intention, therefore, helps to understand what measures people may take to adjust to expected flood risk. Adaptation intention is vital in flood risk management as intention contributes positively to behaviour (Gomes et al , 2017; Sheeran and Webb, 2016; Koerth et al , 2013).…”