Floods and Drought

Imran Ahmed Abdulkadir

MSc. PTH
May. 2021
 Introduction to Floods
• Floods are the most frequent type of natural disaster and occur
when an overflow of water submerges land that is usually dry.
• Floods are often caused by heavy rainfall, rapid snowmelt or a
storm surge from a tropical cyclone or tsunami in coastal areas.
• Floods can cause widespread devastation, resulting in loss of
life and damages to personal property and critical public health
infrastructure.
• Between 1998-2017, floods affected more than 2 billion people
worldwide.
 Introduction to floods
• People who live in floodplains or non-resistant buildings,
or lack warning systems and awareness of flooding
hazard, are most vulnerable to floods.
• Between 80-90% of all documented disasters from
natural hazards during the past 10 years have resulted
from floods, droughts, tropical cyclones, heat waves and
severe storms.
• Floods are also increasing in frequency and intensity, and
the frequency and intensity of extreme precipitation is
expected to continue to increase due to climate change.
 There are 3 common types of floods
• Floods are classified among sudden onset phenomena,
although different types may occur with different speeds:
• Flash floods are caused by rapid and excessive rainfall that
raises water heights quickly, and rivers, streams, channels
or roads may be overtaken.
• River floods ( mostly seasonal) are caused when consistent
rain or snow melt forces a river to exceed capacity.
• Coastal floods are caused by storm surges associated with
tropical cyclones and tsunami.
• Factors influencing the severity of the hazard are: depth of
water, duration, velocity, rate of rise, frequency of occurrence
and season.
 Floods in Somalia
• Somalia experiences two types of flooding: river floods and
flash floods.
• River floods occur along the Juba and Shabelle rivers in
Southern Somalia, whereas flash floods are common along
the intermittent streams in the northern part of the country.
• In the recent past, the country has experienced an increasing
severity and frequency of floods.
• Whereas flash floods in Somalia result from localized rains,
river flooding along the Juba and Shabelle rivers are primarily
due to drainage from catchment areas located in the
Ethiopian highlands, which normally experience heavier and
more frequent rainfall than what occurs in Somalia.
 Factors of Vulnerabilities
• Man made and natural factors:
• Location of settlements on floodplains;
• Non resistant buildings and foundations;
• Lack of warning system and awareness of
flooding hazard;
• Land with little capacity of absorbing rain:
i.e. because of erosion.
 Health impacts of Flood
• Water and vector-borne diseases
• Floods can potentially increase the transmission of the
following communicable diseases:
• Water-borne diseases, such as typhoid fever, cholera and
hepatitis A.
• Vector-borne diseases, such as malaria, dengue and
dengue haemorrhagic fever, yellow fever, and West Nile
Fever.
• Injuries, such as lacerations or punctures from evacuations
and disaster cleanup.
• Chemical hazards.
 Health impacts of Flood

• Mental health effects associated with emergency

situations.

• Disrupted health systems, facilities and services,

leaving communities without access to health care

• Damaged basic infrastructure, such as food and

water supplies, sewage and safe shelter.
 Drought
• Definition of Drought:
• Drought is a prolonged dry period in the natural climate
cycle that can occur anywhere in the world. It is a slow-
onset disaster characterized by the lack of precipitation,
resulting in a water shortage. Drought can have a serious
impact on health, agriculture, economies, energy and the
environment. (WHO)
• Drought is a natural phenomenon in which rainfall is lower
than average for an extended period of time. The result is
inadequate water supply. (CDC, 2019)
• It is related to a deficiency of precipitation over an
extended period of time, usually for a season or more.
 Types of Drought
• Meteorological drought is defined on the basis of the
degree of dryness, in comparison to a normal or
average amount, and the duration of the dry period.
• Definitions of meteorological drought must be region-
specific, since the atmospheric conditions that result in
deficiencies of precipitation are highly region-specific.
• This happens when the actual rainfall in an area is
significantly less than the climatological mean of that
area.
• Hydrological drought
• Hydrological drought refers to a persistently low discharge
and/or volume of water in streams and reservoirs, lasting
months or years.
• Hydrological drought is a natural phenomenon, but it may
be exacerbated by human activities. Hydrological
droughts are usually related to meteorological droughts,
and their recurrence interval varies accordingly.
• A deficit in the supply of surface and subsurface water.
• Agricultural drought
• Agricultural drought links various characteristics of
meteorological drought to agricultural impacts, focusing on
precipitation shortages, differences between actual and
potential evapotranspiration, soil-water deficits, reduced
groundwater or reservoir levels, and so on.
• Inadequate soil moisture resulting in acute crop stress and fall
in agricultural productivity.
• A good definition of agricultural drought should account for the
susceptibility of crops during different stages of crop
development.
• Socioeconomic drought
• Socioeconomic definitions of drought associate
the supply and demand of some economic good
with elements of meteorological, hydrological,
and agricultural drought.

• A combination of the above three types leading to

undesirable social and economic impacts.
Droughts are often predictable: periods of unusual dryness are
normal in all weather systems. Advance warning is possible.
 Famine
• A famine is a phenomenon in which a large percentage of
the populations of a region or country are so
undernourished and that death by starvation becomes
increasingly common.
• Famine is associated with naturally-occurring crop failure
and artificially with war.

• Famine: “a state of extreme hunger suffered by the

population of a region as a result of the failure of the
accustomed food supply”
 Immediate public health risks
• Severe food shortages are often associated
with factors which increase the risk of
communicable diseases, such as population
displacement, lack of safe food and water,
poor sanitation, overcrowding, collapse of
preventive public health measures such as
immunization and vector control, and lack of
access to basic health services.
 Causes of drought
• Climate Change (Global warming)
• Deforestation
• Urbanization
• Soil erosion
• Overgrazing
 Factors affecting vulnerability
• Factors influencing the impact of drought are:
• Demographic pressure on the environment;
• Food insecurity;
• Economic systems strictly dependent on agriculture;
• Poor infrastructure e.g. irrigation and water supply and
sanitation systems;
• Poor health status of the population before the disaster;
• Absence of warning systems;
• Population displacement;
• Other concurrent situations: economic crisis, political
instability, armed conflict.
 Impacts of drought
• Primary (Immediate) Effects
• Water supplies are overtaxed and finally dry up.
• Loss of crops
• Loss of livestock and other animals, and
• Loss of water for hygienic use and drinking.
• Secondary (Resulting) Effects of Drought
• Migration in search of better grazing lands
• Famine
• Permanent changes of settlement, social, and living
patterns.
• Major ecological changes
• Desertification.
 Impacts of drought
• Drought affects communities differently depending on
• Who lives in the community, because some people are
more affected by drought than others based on things
like health conditions and age.
• What kind of water system the community has What
rules the community has about water use.
• Other economic and social factors.

• Drought is usually accompanied by hot, dry winds and may

be followed by damaging floods.
 Health Implications of Drought
• When drought causes water and food
shortages there can be many impacts on the
health of the affected population, which may
increase the risk of disease and death.

• Drought may have acute and chronic health

effects, including:
• Drought may have acute and chronic health effects, including:
• Malnutrition due to the decreased availability of food,
including micronutrient deficiency, such as iron-deficiency
anaemia;
• Increased risk of infectious diseases, such as cholera,
diarrhoea, and pneumonia, due to acute malnutrition, lack
of water and sanitation, and displacement;
• Psycho-social stress and mental health disorders;
• Disruption of local health services due to a lack of water
supplies, loss of buying power.
• Interruption of health care services.

• Migration and/or health workers being forced to

leave local areas.

• Severe drought can also affect air quality by making

increasing health risk in people already impacted by
lung diseases, like asthma or chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease (COPD), or with heart disease.
 Main causes of mortality and morbidity
• Protein-energy malnutrition
• Micronutrient deficiency: Vitamin A deficiency increases
the risk of death from measles; severe iron-deficiency
anaemia increases the risk of child and maternal
mortality.
• Communicable diseases.
• Lack of water supply and sanitation services,
malnutrition, displacement and higher vulnerability of
the population all increase the risk of infectious diseases
such as cholera, typhoid fever, diarrhoea, acute
respiratory infections and measles, eye and skin
infections.
Drought as a risk factor for a complex public health impacts

Community
impact
Health impact

Water
Water
related
shortage
diseases

Drought Crop failure,

live stock Malnutrition
loss

Other
Food crisis
health risks,
Starvation
diseases
 The Impact of Droughts on Development

• If a drought is allowed to continue without response, the

impact on development can be severe.
• Food shortages may become chronic. The country urban
growth may be accelerated due to migration of people from
rural areas.
• To respond to this, the government must borrow heavily and
must divert money from other development schemes in order
to meet these needs. All serve to undermine the potential for
economic development.
• Agricultural projects in particular are most likely to be affected
by droughts.
 Public health interventions
• Monitor health and nutritional status
• Assess and ensure food safety and security, including
availability, accessibility, and consumption pattern;
• Health services, like immunization, child and maternal
health, and mental health
• Assembling mobile health teams and outreach
• Ensure safe water, sanitation, and disease control
• Epidemic surveillance, early warning and response
• Calling for emergency funding to support health action.
 References
• Disaster Prevention and Preparedness, Lelisa Sena and
Kifle Woldemichael, 2006
• CDC, https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/drought/default.htm,
2019.
• http://threeissues.sdsu.edu/three_issues_droughtfacts0
2.html
, 2019
• WHO,
https://www.who.int/hac/techguidance/ems/drought/e
n/