Assessing Residents’ Perception of Flood Risk: A Case Study of Nyabugogo Floodplain

Flood remains a global threat, particularly for those living in flood-prone areas such as the Nyabugogo floodplain. Therefore, there is a huge concern to reduce floods through community perception. This paper aims to assess the perceptions of Nyabugogo residents toward flood risk and its impact. The paper used a mixed method combining both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Data were gathered through systematic interviews and surveys across areas surrounding the floodplain. A sample size of 300 households has been used to collect primary data and analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). The results indicated that socio-economic factors such as age (70% youth), gender (51.33% female), financial condition (73.33% low income), education level (42.33% primary education), marital status (70% married), etc., influence residents’ perceptions. Results have also revealed that 63% of the respondents are aware of the risk of flooding. While 37% have no experience. The sources of flooding reported by the study are climate change 30.67%, poor drainage systems 29.67%, land use and land cover changes 21.33%, proximity to water bodies 15%, and deforestation 3.33%. The study also established a high statistical significance relationship (P < 0.05) between residents’ perception and flood risk, whereby physical flood impacts such as economic loss, property damages, etc., led to a high perception of risks. The overall mitigation strategies implemented by the local government were weakly rated by residents, 61% of respondents described them as “non-effective”. These findings highlighted the need for tailored intervention to foster resilience, reduce vulnerability to flooding and promote sustainable urban development in the Nyabugogo floodplain.