A serious flooding event in Nigeria in 2012 with specific focus on Benue State: a brief review

In March 2012, a serious flooding event had occurred in Nigeria killing over 430 people and displacing about 566,466 and causing inundation of approximately 4,701 km 2 area. The two most affected areas were Kogi and Benue States. The flooding occurred due to a combination of two events—the first being a very heavy rainfall locally and the second event is the release of excess water from the Lagto Dam which is in the neighboring country of Cameroon. The flooding is a recurring phenomenon in the low-lying and flood-prone areas in Benue and surrounding state. The purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of flooding impact using the social vulnerability approach in order to establish the role of social vulnerability in the disaster and to strategize resilience building. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015