Flood-Induced Building Damage Assessment Ranking of Residential Building Types in Bayelsa State: A Comparative Analysis of 2012 and 2018 Floods

Abstract

With the increasing occurrence of floods globally as a result of climate change, most residential buildings are unable to escape the damaging impacts of floods due to their static state. The damages have remained generalized, rather than categorized into a standard damage assessment ranking for proper designation. This study focused on ranking the flood-generated building damage on residential buildings in Bayelsa State during the 2012 and 2018 floods. The objectives of the study were to identify the residential building types and to categorize the flood-generated building damage ranking. The research method adopted for this study was mixed methods. The findings from the study revealed that there were more modern material-built residential buildings in the study area, with 73.3% of the buildings having foundations built with modern material, 74.9% had modern material walls, and modern roofing materials were 87.9%. The study further revealed that the damage conditions of the residential building fit into the MLIT damaging ranking categorisation. The study revealed that minor and major damages were more in both years, with 59.2% minor damage in 2012, and 70.8% 2018. Major damage was 35.4% 2012 and 10.3% in 2018. The study recommends, among others, that residential buildings should be designed with adaptive and resilient design strategies to reduce the amount of minor and major damage. The findings of this study will contribute to the development of policies and interventions aimed at reducing the vulnerability of residential buildings to flood damage in Bayelsa State and similar regions.

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