Flood Disaster Hazards; Causes, Impacts and Management: A State-of-the-Art Review

Abstract

Floods are among disasters that cause widespread destruction to human lives, properties and the environment every year and occur at different places with varied scales across the globe. Flood disasters are caused by natural phenomena, but their occurrences and impacts have been intensified through human actions and inactions. The practice of flood disaster management have evolved over the years from traditional approaches of ad-hoc response measures to integrated approaches involving technologically advanced tools in flood disaster awareness, preparedness and response measures. This chapter proffers understanding into flood disaster awareness, preparedness and management, mitigation and adaptation strategies. Most importantly, the chapter presents a review on the relevance of modern techno- logical tools namely Geographic Information System, Remote Sensing, Internet of Things and Big Data, that are available to flood managers, in the creation of effi- cient early warnings and Flood decision support systems that elevates the resilience of societies to flood disasters.