THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT OF FLOODING ON TRANSPORTATIONLAND USE IN ONITSHA, ANAMBRA STATE

ABSTRACT

This study examines the socio-economic impact of flooding on transportationlanduse in Onitsha. This study becomes relevance in view of the re-occurring natureof flooding on transportation routes that tends to impact negatively on the socio-economicwell-being of the generality of residents in the study area. The study adopts the surveyresearch design where a sample of the population was taken. Data were collected using mainly the questionnaire and field observation. Thedata collected were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Thedescriptive statistics was used to describe the perception of respondents andclarifypersonal observations and meanings. These include the simple percentage and bar graph. While the inferential statistics with the use of student t-test was deployed to comparemeans of transportation fares between raining and non-raining periods. The result shows that excessive rainfall, indiscriminate disposal of refuseanddumping of refuse on water channels, and non-existence of channels on some roads wereseen as factors responsible for the causes of flooding in the study area. It was alsoobserved that flood impact on transport land use had the following attendant ef ects:increase in travelling time of commuters, traf ic congestion, and damages the qualityof road and infrastructure. Similarly, the study shows that flood duration on the af ectedroads last for more than 20 hours. The result shows that the respondents tend toratethecondition of roads in the study area to be low. On the ef ect of flooding onsocio-economic activities, the study revealed that flood more than often result inroadsinaccessibility, high public transport fare, disturbance of free flow traf ic, andtraf iccongestion. The conducted pair sample -test analysis indicated a significant (P<0.05)mean dif erence in transport fare when there is no flood on the road and duringtheperiod of flood. This implies that what the commuters pay at normal period whenthereisno flood is remarkably dif erent from what they pay in the event of flood on the roads. The study severally suggested that the government should enact policyandimplementation strategy to guide against indiscriminate building on water paths toavoid xiii flooding situation and they should also embark on massive expansion of roads toalloweasy flow of water that could possibly form a pool on the road surface.