The status of response to the flood early warnings in Kilosa District, Tanzania

Floods have been a challenging phenomenon, jeopardizing human life and property. Measures have been taken to alleviate flood effects, including using flood early warning systems (EWS), which give warnings to people. Despite the use of warnings from EWS, there is limited information on warnings contribution to mitigate flood effects. This study investigates the status of flood early warning response measures by communities in areas where floods frequently occur in Kilosa District. The data were collected from 375 household heads through surveys and triangulated by 17 participants via focus group discussions, 22 officials through key informant interviews, and a literature survey. The data were descriptively analysed, and chi-square tests and binary logistic regression analyses were done. Results indicate that 76.53 % of the respondents receive flood early warnings from word of mouth among relatives (54.21 %), phones (45.45 %), and radios (31.65 %). Upon receiving the early warnings, 45.43 % inform family members about what to do, 43.82 % vacate flood-prone areas, and 6.99 % make flood emergency response plans. Those flood warning response measures are significantly an outcome of the households’ distance from the rivers causing floods (p < .0001), chances of receiving flood warnings (p < .0001), past flood experience (p < .0001), and the nature of the houses (p < .0007). In conclusion, individuals can proactively protect against floods by diverting floodwaters away from populated areas and reducing human exposure to flood risks. To actively protect against floods, communities should implement multiple warning systems, establish reliable mechanisms to disseminate alerts and install water level gauges in all flood-prone rivers.