Voice to the lived experience
Have you ever experienced a flood?
What happened to your house, household or community?
Can you describe a good example of a measure or action to reduce the impact of flood, that you witnessed in your community?
What measures to reduce flood impacts do you think are appropriate?
I experienced flooding three times in my hometown. The first time was in 1996 when I was five. My grandparents’ house, where I was staying, didn’t flood, but our family home did. To bring me back, they used a small inflatable boat, carried by people pushing it through the water. At first, I was sad because I couldn’t go home, but as a child, I saw the fun of navigating my flooded streets. The entire basement was submerged, and we lost so much—photos, old clothes, scooter, washing machine, and motorbike.
A simple but common measure I’ve seen since childhood in my community to reduce flood impacts is using sandbags and wooden panels to block water at doors, gates, and entrances. Last year, I helped my family fill sandbags at the Cesena fire station and place them at key spots. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s the first and quickest step many take during emergencies.
Emilia-Romagna, Italy, 2023
Due to heavy rain in Zimbabwe and South Africa, the Limpopo river burst its banks and inundated large parts of the town as it is where the river meets the ocean. Entire downtown area was underwater and remained inaccessible for almost 3 weeks due to fast-flowing waters. People really suffered and basic infrastructure like roads was badly affected. Farmland was lost and vulnerable communities living in the lower-lying areas were the most affected. There was a second round of flooding about 1 month later, further exacerbating the damage
Xai-Xai, Mozambique, 2026.
Somewhere
2011
The heavy rain started in the afternoon. I left work at 17h, and I would usually reach home by 19h (70km), this day I returned home at 1am due to the roads being flooded. I took a shower and went to bed, at 4am my neighbors called me saying that the wall between our houses had gone down. The backyard of my house was similar to a swimming pool. I was unable to go to work for 3 days due to the damage on the way from my house to work.
Naga City, Philippines,
1994
Woke up to a drenched pajamas. We had to evacuate to a more elevated house.After the flood, almost every household started to plant trees. When we had our house constructed, we made sure it was elevated.
Atlanta, USA
I grew up in Louisiana, so I have experienced many floods. Once, when driving home from Alabama, we found that campus was flooding. A storm had hit Mexico and we were getting the outer bands of it. Being in LA and being college kids, people didn’t take it too seriously, water skiing in parking lots & such. It took us an extra 2 hours to get home (after 5 hours of driving already) so we were irritable. Several people who were parked in lower areas had their cars damaged because of water intake.
During Hurricane Katrina, the levees broke, which led to severe damage in the city. After the storm, engineer went and studied flood control in the Netherlands, since the dikes and levees there are famous for their effectiveness. The engineers rebuilt the levees and modeled them after the dikes, and they’ve held up ever since.
Emilia-Romagna, Italy
2023
My family farm and entire towns around were flooded in May 2023. Community can do very little, it is a duty of politics. The main thing to do is to manage the territory properly, in terms of new constructions, and waterways maintenance. Stop waterproofing the area by building asphalt esplanades, and then be surprised that if it rains more than normal, as has happened, we get flooded. Explain these dynamics to citizens, and give them an active role.
It is not a stronger embankment that will prevent the next flood. It is a different approach to how the territory is exploited by everyone, which will perhaps avoid the next flood.
Jakarta, Indonesia
We have floods every year in the rainy season around January-March. Improving the barriers between the sea and the city and restoring natural habitat in the area could prevent and avoid flood damage.
Polangui, Albay, Philippines
My family experienced flooding several times. We usually prepare for it by elevating our furnitures at the ground level of our house. Sometimes we use sandbags in the doorway to block the water from coming inside. We also transfer our ornamental plants from the balcony to a safer area inside our home. At the community level, our local government support imposes preemptive evacuation for people living in flood prone areas.
Flooding rivers and landslides isolated the entire town for five days. In particular, due to the dozens of landslides that hit the provincial access road, our house remained inaccessible for two months. During the entire period, the power line was out of order. We saw the courage and determination of first rescue operators. Appropriate measures to reduce flood impacts are ditches maintance, cleaning of riverbeds, and infrastructures update to resist to climate change.
Emilia-Romagna, Italy, 2023.
Lismore, NSW, Australia
2022
During the 2022 Floods in the Northern Rivers, My community experienced severe impacts to local towns and villages. Several people died. Many more were rescued by citizens in their small boats. In an area already experiencing a housing shortage, the loss of affordable housing has seen serious continued housing stress with many residents having to move away from their beloved community, living in temporary pods or homeless. Now more than 2 years on and the rupture to the communities continues.
The training of community members in radio use so that remotely located communities can talk with each other when the communications are down. The communications (phone towers) were down for a minimum of 2 weeks.
Dubai, UAE
Living on the fourth floor of my building in Dubai, I never imagined that flooding would affect me, but the recent heavy rains proved me wrong. As water seeped through the bathroom ceiling, creating an unsettling leakage, I realised the extent of the damage caused by the floods. Our external walls also showed signs of distress, with paint chipping off in various places around the house. The severity of the situation hit home when I learned that this was the heaviest rainfall recorded in the UAE.
Emilia-Romagna, Italy
2023
I have a rustic land with olive groves located on the hills in the municipality of Brisighella - which suffered the flood of early May 2023 which hit the entire Romagna area. As regards the rustic land located on the hills, I believe that good cultivation of the land and good maintenance of the ditches and drainage channels are actions aimed at reducing the impact of the flood