Performance of early warning systems in mitigating flood effects. A review.

Floods have major effects on the livelihoods of rural and urban communities in Africa. In order to lessen its effects, means for mitigating them have been developed, including the use of flood Early Warning Systems (EWS) as a preparedness measure against flood effects. However, there is little comprehensive documentation of the performance of flood EWS in areas where floods occur frequently in Africa. This paper reviews the extent to which flood EWS are contributing to the reduction of flood effects in Africa. This review is important because it gives the reasons why people are affected even when warnings are in place. The review was aided by a literature survey from Scopus, Web of Science, and Science Direct engines. Through this review, it has been observed that people use traditional and modern systems to communicate flood early warnings. The results indicate that upon receiving the early warnings from the aforementioned systems, people vacate the flood-prone areas for safer places, cleaning water drainage systems and buildings, conducting evacuation training, preparing shelter centers, and forming flood management committees. Furthermore, it was noted that those responses have been instrumental in enhancing food security, reducing human injuries and deaths, and reducing damage and/or losses to properties. It is concluded that if people are informed ahead of time of the flood, they can take more response measures to prepare themselves and reduce the flood's effects. Similarly, the ability of relevant national, local, and community institutions to understand, interpret, disseminate, and respond to flood warnings is critical to the effectiveness of flood early warning systems. • Local and scientific flood EWS are used by communities to reduce flood effects. • Communities respond to flood early warning systems by evacuating flood-prone areas, constructing flood-resistant houses, forming disaster committees, providing flood risk education, and preserving food. • Communities' response to flood early warning systems is useful in enhancing food security, reducing human injury and deaths, and establishing flood management plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]