Examining flood mitigation in flood prone areas: A case study of Kawempe, Kampala District, Uganda

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine flood mitigation in flood prone areas of Kawempe in Kampala so as to promote integrated flood management. The objectives of this study were to examine three questions: first was to identify the causes of the floods in Kawempe, identify strategies for minimizing floods in Kawempe Division and to examine the flood mitigation frameworks used in Kawempe division. A cross sectional survey design was used to guide the study which employed both qualitative and quantitative approaches. A sample of 350 respondents was considered which comprised Kawempe community and KCCA officials. Data was collected by use of questionnaires and interview guides and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS). The study found out that the community practices such as dumping garbage in water channels, settlement in wetlands and individualistic implementation of coping strategies that added to the vulnerability of others contributed to flooding in Kawempe. The most common household strategy towards mitigation of floods was landscape around the house in order to divert the flood waters. The study noted that the physical landscape of compounds of a number of homes in the parishes were visibly raised to the extent that the houses appeared lower that the compound. Community members noted that for this strategy to be effective, there was need for the channels to be widened and cleaned regularly thus calling for appropriate connection to other channels to enhance functionality of drainage lines without flooding. It is recommended that stakeholders in Kawempe are sensitized on the impacts of unplanned poor construction of houses on environment. The implementation of flood mitigation frameworks should take into consideration inherent challenges of land ownership, physical planning, environment and lack of funding. There is need to restore the drainage systems into their original state through installing gauges along specific sites of the drainage systems so as to capture the plastic wastes in the drainage systems which if modelled with other basin and climatologically parameters, will be used as a guide to demarcate the boundaries of zones susceptible to steam floods.