Many of the world’s poorest people live in regions most susceptible to flooding. In northeast India, some residents have been forced to rebuild their homes at least eight times in the past decade. In Africa, the continent’s largest city, Lagos in Nigeria, may become unliveable due to severe floods, while a recent flood caused by tropical storm Ana affected hundreds of thousands of people across the south of the continent.
The situation is expected to worsen in the next few decades, especially for many of the world’s largest cities in lower and middle income countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. This century, their population is projected to increase substantially. Lagos, for example, could reach a population of 88 million by 2100 according to one academic estimate.
