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.

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.

Floods are one of Iran’s most important natural hazards, which cause a lot of damage every year. Various organizations, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), participate in flood management. The present study aimed to explore the challenges and barriers of NGOs’ participation in the management of the flooding in Iran based on stakeholders’ experiences.

This qualitative study is a case study that was conducted using the content analysis approach. Fifteen participants, including 3 national managers, 2 volunteers active in responding to recent floods, and 10 NGO managers/secretaries who had the knowledge or operational experience of participating in disaster management, were approached for interviews. Data were collected using a purposeful sampling method and continued until reaching data saturation.

Challenges and barriers to NGOs’ participation in flood management were categorized into 4 main categories and 14 subcategories, including policy-making challenges, managerial challenges, executive challenges, and socio-cultural challenges.

As multiple NGOs take part in responding to disasters and performing relief operations, establishing a unified command and supervision system for effective coordination and collaborations among NGOs and other stakeholders is highly suggested. Further research is needed to develop a measurement tool for assessing the effectiveness of NGOs’ activities during disasters.