Douala city officials reflect on stilt homes to contain flood destruction

Officials of the Douala city council have expressed the wish to review construction in the economic city as swampy areas are being covered by homes, exposing the economic hub of Cameroon to high floods.
During a tea talk dubbed “Café Scientifique” in Douala recently, it was disclosed that 1872 homes have been built in swampy areas with the Makepe Missoke neighborhood in the Douala 5 subdivision considered the most affected zone having 1500 houses.
Dr. Raphael Onguene, a university lecturer at IUT Douala, said the situation will get worse in coming years “Cameroon lost 73% of its land surface to rising sea level. Douala is witnessing a demographic boom with 110 000 new people annually unlike in the 80s and 90s. Thus the 13 water basins can no longer play their role effectively”
Floods in Douala have been recurrent with the most recent devastating one being in August 2020. Each year, the weather forecast during the rainy season predicts the worse for the city.

So far a drainage project launched in 2015 has according to city council officials led to the construction of 30.9km of rectangular gutters, and 17.9km of traditional gutters rehabilitated.
Faced with the demographic boom, there is a growing demand for land which leads to the destruction of mangroves that is meant to regulate sea level and reduce floods in the environment.

Officials of the Douala city council have accepted the urge to readapt urbanization strategies to avert floods in the future. As of now, uncertainty looms over thousands of homes built in these zones that might be destroyed. Nonetheless, studies are already being made on the possibility of building houses on stilts of 3 metres high each to keep the population safe during the rainy season.

This will however not be the first time houses are built on stilts in the country as several resorts and hotels in the Centre region have adopted the construction style