Effects of floods on infrastructure users in Kenya

Abstract

Abstract Events associated with climate change such as floods increase outages of infrastructure services. Developing countries largely react rather than being proactive in managing the effects of floods on infrastructure. This is clearly demonstrated by inadequate level of preparedness experienced before, during, and after events of floods. This research discusses the effects of floods on infrastructure users in Kenya based on a primary study carried out in 27 counties out of 47 counties in Kenya. The research findings show that events of floods in Kenya disrupt provision of infrastructure services by damaging road networks, energy facilities, buildings, and social facilities. The study reveals Kenya spend huge amount of resources in recovery phase to address the effects of floods. The study notes that local communities play a critical role in responding and recovery from floods. The study also reveals Kenya lacks climate sensitive policies, legislation, and development plans that make reference to resilience in order to protect infrastructure against known and foreseen climate risks. The study recommends that building resilience in infrastructure to respond and withstand the effects of floods demands common vision among different stakeholders.

Keywords

• floods
• infrastructure damage
• infrastructure resilience
• infrastructure services