**7. Destruction of family bonds and social/community ties**

The menace from the flooding continues to tear families and individuals apart as they seek for temporary spots or relief camps to stay alive from the flood. One of the representatives of the women group reported thus:

*… majority of the women were separated from their families for 8 months adding up to the entire flood season and this affected our family relationship.*

Generally, the close knitted and family culture of Akili Ogidi people is heavily threatened by the annual flooding [36]. Indigenous communities in Anambra State are characterized by shared learning, beliefs, and shared bonds of fellowship that set their standards or patterns of behavior [37]. A common culture such as language, livelihoods, and administration with close bond to biodiverse natural resources is threatened yearly. It is unfortunate that these underlying commitments within families, social groups and customs are threatened annually. Worse still, most families experience the fragmentation of their social family unit and ties. Similar published studies affirmed that climate-induced floods affect fragile communities forcing internal dislocation of the marginalized populations [38–44].

According to the report of the women leader during an interview session, she indicated that the severity of the floods keeps increasing and has become an annual event that the community has to deal with. She further informed us thus:

*… families face the pain of not only leaving the comfort of their homes, but also, the disintegration of the members of the family to other locations due to the harsh consequences of the floods that sweeps through our homes. Women, children and husbands are separated from one another. The social disconnection is usually unbearable that most mothers risk being with their young children in IDP camps or other locations in order to avoid social disconnection.*

Clearly, flood in the study area was responsible for unexpected deaths, inflicting injuries on family members and also the separation of families creating societal vulnerabilities for vulnerable persons. Evidently, the displacement from the normal patterns of life creates unrest, tension, and violence (www.absradiotv.com). The flooding events have been shown to create strains on family knitting and commitment heightening intimate partner- and gender-related violence when marginalized groups, such as women, children, and the disabled, are left in relief camps exacerbating their vulnerability levels. According to a Pacific study involving six

Pacifician island nations, they reported that for all the women surveyed, more than 75% of participants experienced some types of violence, either the physical or the sexual form from their close partners and significant others around them (UN Women, n.d).

The findings further showed that these women experienced major forms of violence, such as assault and violence, implicating intimate partners and family members as perpetrators. Also, according to Wan [45] separating children from their parents come with complex devastating issues. This may be as a result of effect on critical bonds in human life. Floods can traumatize its victims for a long time, and often times, survivors are left with diminishing social determinants of health. Worse still, on such occasions of flood crisis, minors are given new roles as principal care givers, earners, and heads of households that can destabilize their mental and emotional health [46].

One of the affected community women reported:

*… we have these floods every year, but the magnitude of this year's flood, 2020 was high almost similar to 2012.*

*The flood damaged our house, crops such as rice, maize and cassava. I had to separate my four children in different places, so I and my husband can gather our lives and little belongings left from the flood. I miss my children all the time. I can hardly see them because we have little money left with me to fix our damaged house.*

It is forecasted that there may be greater flood impacts on in Ogabru LGA, threatening community ideology, values, and belief systems as climate changes has remained unpredictable (www.channelstv.com//ag). Indeed, climatic extremes and uncertainties have become the norm where the community have to face prolonged flood crisis.
