This preliminary longitudinal web-based study examines the progression of anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among individuals affected by severe flooding in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The aim is to provide data that can inform early interventions and future research on mental health following disasters.

Sixty-four participants were assessed during the flood (T1) and 1 month later (T2). Evaluations included sociodemographic data, trauma exposure, and symptoms of depression, anxiety, acute stress disorder (ASD), and PTSD.

Depression and anxiety symptoms remained relatively stable between T1 and T2, while posttraumatic symptoms increased significantly, particularly re-experiencing and avoidance. This progression suggests a shift from initial hyperarousal to more entrenched symptoms of reliving trauma and avoidance, indicating that the long-term effects of trauma may be more closely tied to PTSD. Additionally, trauma exposure and specific ASD symptoms predicted PTSD severity at T2.

The results suggest a time-dependent progression of PTSD symptoms, with initial hyperarousal giving way to re-experiencing and avoidance, which are central to PTSD. Early psychoeducational interventions targeting re-experiencing symptoms and avoidance may help reduce PTSD severity. Further research in larger, more diverse samples is needed to assess generalizability.

Heavy rain and flood frequently occur in recent years and hospitals’ preparedness for flood is important. To secure patient safety, hospital evacuation planning and drills due to flooding by heavy rain is inevitable. In the study the relation of factors with hospitals’ preparedness for flood by heavy rain was analyzed.

Subjects of the study were disaster base hospitals in Japan (n = 765). Internet survey conducted in 2022. Bayesian network was used to analyze the interrelation of factors.

430 hospitals (56.2%) were used for analysis. 42.1% of the hospital were located in designated flooded area and 33.7% of the hospitals have planning of hospital evacuation due to flooding. Display of area where flooding is expected in case of heavy rain and landslide warning area leads to a hospital evacuation planning and evacuation drills.

Display of flooded area by heavy rain or landslide warning zone by governments is effective in advancing hospital preparedness for flood. Hospitals’ recent experience of flood or landslide did not lead to evacuation planning or evacuation drills due to flood. These findings are useful in advancing hospitals’ preparedness for flood and heavy rain.

Given the US population concentration near coastal areas and increased flooding due to climate change, public health professionals must recognize the psychological burden resulting from exposure to natural hazards.

We performed a systematic search of databases to identify articles with a clearly defined comparison group consisting of either pre-exposure measurements in a disaster-exposed population or disaster-unexposed controls, and assessment of mental health, including but not limited to, depression, post-traumatic stress (PTS), and anxiety.

Twenty-five studies, with a combined total of n =616 657 people were included in a systematic review, and 11 studies with a total of 2012 people were included in a meta-analysis of 3 mental health outcomes. Meta-analytic findings included a positive association between disaster exposure and PTS (n = 5, g = 0.44, 95% CI 0.04, 0.85), as well as depression (n = 9, g = 0.28, 95% CI 0.04, 0.53), and no meaningful effect size in studies assessing anxiety (n = 6, g = 0.05 95% CI −0.30, 0.19).

Hurricanes and flooding were consistently associated with increased depression and PTS in studies with comparison groups representing individuals unaffected by hazards.

The human health impacts of disaster are predicted to increase in frequency and severity due to the effects of climate change. This has impacts on all nations, but understanding disaster-related health impacts in highly populous nations, such as India, will help to inform risk preparedness and reduction measures for large proportions of the global population.

Disaster-related human health impacts in India were examined via the use of survey data to inform risk reduction.

A cross-sectional analysis of Wave 1 (2017-2018) data from the Longitudinal Aging Study India (LASI) was conducted to explore the impact of both natural and human-induced disasters on the self-reported health of people 45 years and above, as well as their partners (irrespective of age). Descriptive statistics, chi square tests of association, odds ratio, and logistic regression were used to analyze the data by socio-demographics, geographic location, and health concern type.

Out of a total 72,250 respondents, 2,301 (3.5%) reported disaster-related health impacts, of which 90.1% were significant. Rural residents and those with no education were more likely to be affected. Droughts were most commonly responsible for affecting human health (41.7%), followed by floods (24.0%). Two-thirds of the sample reported psychological trauma and one-in-five experienced chronic illness.

The LASI study presents an important first understanding of the self-reported human health impacts of disasters, both natural and human-induced in India. Findings indicate social determinants such as education level and rurality impact risk of disaster-related health impacts, while mental health concerns represent the biggest disaster-related health concern.

Future waves of LASI should be examined to determine if human health impacts are increasing due to the effects of climate change, as well as the vulnerability of an aging cohort.

Flood is one of the major public health concerns increasing the risk of childhood diarrhea. This study aims to explore the association of floods with diarrhea among under-five children in rural India.

A cross-sectional study was carried out using large-scale nationally representative data from the National Family Health Survey-5. The Central Water Commission reports between the years 2018 and 2020 were used to group all the districts as non-flood-affected districts or flood-affected districts. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models were employed to assess the association of floods with childhood diarrhea.

The prevalence of diarrhea was higher among children exposed to three consecutive floods during the year 2019-21 than those children not exposed to flood. Children exposed to flood three times between the year 2018-19 to 2020-21 were associated with a 34% higher likelihood of developing diarrhea than those children exposed to flood one or two times.

Our study suggests that community health workers should target mothers belonging to the poor wealth quintile, young mothers, and mothers with young infants and more children to receive child health related counseling in flood-prone areas.

Exposure to flood, one of the most widespread disasters caused by natural hazards, increases the risk of drowning. Driving through flooded waterways is a cause of death due to flood-related drowning, especially in flood-prone areas. This study aimed at identifying the risk factors for motor vehicle–related drowning in floods and its prevention strategies.

International and national databases (WOS, PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, Magiran, and SID) were searched in the time span from 2000 to 2022. The studies investigating the risk factors relevant to land motor vehicle–related drowning in floods and its prevention strategies were included and analyzed using thematic content analysis.

In 14 eligible studies, risk factors for land motor vehicle–related drowning in floods were identified and categorized in 3 subthemes: driver (3 categories: socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge and attitude, and beliefs); technology (1 category: land motor vehicles); and environment (2 categories: physical and socio-economic environment). Physical and structural measures (1 category: road safety improvement) and nonstructural measures (4 categories: research and education and raising awareness, risk management, promoting social-cognitive beliefs, and reconstruction and improvement of legal infrastructure) were proposed as drowning prevention strategies.

The knowledge, attitude, and belief of the driver; the vehicle; and the environment were the most important risk factors of driving through flooded waterways. These factors should be considered when designing programs and physical and structural strategies for future interventions to curb this dangerous and potentially fatal driving behavior.

The co-occurring flood and coronavirus disease (COVID-19) increase the consequences for health and life. This study examined the strategies to manage the health consequences of the co-occurring flood and COVID-19, with a specific focus on these 2 challenges.

This review included all the studies published in peer-reviewed journals between January 1980 and June 2021. Several electronic databases were searched, including Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed. Mixed Methods Appraisal Tools (MMT), version 2018, assessed the articles retrieved through a comprehensive and systematic literature search. Descriptive and thematic analyses were carried out to derive strategies for managing the health consequences of the simultaneous flood and COVID-19.

Among 4271 identified articles, 10 were eligible for inclusion. In total, 199 strategies were identified in this review for managing the multi-hazard health consequences of flooding and COVID-19, which were classified into 9 categories and 25 subcategories. The categories included policy making and decision making, coordination, risk communication, logistics, planning, preparedness measures, response measures, social and humanitarian support, and actions of local communities and non-governmental organizations.

Managing a multi-hazard and reducing its health consequences requires various actions. Flood management must be needed, and flood-affected people and their health should be protected.

Floods are the most frequent natural disasters with a significant share of their mortality. Preparedness is capable of decreasing the mortality of floods by at least 50%. This paper aims to present the psychometric properties of a scale developed to evaluate the behavior of preparedness to floods in Sudan and similar settings.

In this methodological scale development study, experts assessed the content validity of the items of the developed scale. Data were collected from key persons of 413 households living in neighborhoods affected by the 2018 floods in Kassala City in Sudan. A pre-tested questionnaire of sociodemographic data and the Flood Preparedness Behavior Scale (FPBS) were distributed to the participants’ houses and recollected. Construct validity of the scale was checked using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Internal consistency of the scale was checked using Cronbach’s alpha. Test-retest reliability was assessed by Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Item analyses and tests of significance of the difference in the mean scores of the highest and lowest score groups were carried out to ensure discriminatory power of the scale items.

Experts agreed on the scale items. Construct validity of the scale was achieved using EFA by removing 34 items and retaining 25 items that were structured in three factors, named as: measures to be done before, during, and after a flood. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the construct obtained by EFA. The loadings of the items on their factors in both EFA and CFA were all > 0.3 with significant associations and acceptable fit indices obtained from CFA. The three factors were found to be reliable in terms of internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for all factors were > 0.7) and test-retest reliability coefficient. In item analysis, the corrected total item correlations for all the items were > 0.3, and significant differences in the means of the highest and lowest score groups indicated good item discrimination power.

The developed 25 items scale is an instrument which produces valid and reliable measures of preparedness behavior for floods in Sudan and similar settings.