The combination of rapid urbanization, urban poverty, lack of investments in infrastructure and public services, as well as climate change, has made SSA cities increasingly vulnerable to impacts of flooding and other natural hazards. Dartmouth Flood Observatory (DFO) data consider flooding as a major event involving at least significant damage to structures and agriculture, fatalities, and displacements. In the five years preceding the survey all four countries suffered at least two such flood events and Tanzania suffered eight (Table 1). Major events such as those reported by DFO are well-documented and their impacts are captured in official numbers reported by news and governments. In addition to larger flood events, these cities are also affected by high-frequency, low-intensity flooding. The high frequency floodings are less costly in terms of direct losses but are highly disruptive to the everyday lives of residents affected by them. Floods affect people’s lives in many ways. They damage assets, such as furniture, electronics, and vehicles with high replacement values for urban poor. Flooding can disrupt infrastructure, such as road networks, water, and energy services, which affects residents’ ability to access jobs, school and operate an enterprise. Flooding also has health consequences and can lead to the spread of water-borne diseases, urinary tract infections, skin fungus, etc. Although both poorer and richer areas are affected by flooding, the vulnerability of housing structures and lack of access to insurance, savings and other financial support, poorer households are worse off when affected by flooding. In many cities, informal settlements also tend to be in flood plains because these areas were previously undeveloped and perhaps offered other benefits, such as proximity to jobs and services.

Since climate change is likely to make flood events more frequent and intense and the urban poor are likely to suffer disproportionately, poverty rates can be expected to increase as a result (Hallegatte et al., 2020). This is particularly important to consider in the context of the current global pandemic which is affecting urban populations disproportionately. These are important issues which need to be addressed in combination.

# **3 Data and methodology**

## **3.1 The surveys**

The analysis relies on integrated and harmonized data from four surveys, covering the four cities of Accra, Antananarivo, Dar Es Salaam, and Addis Ababa. For Accra, Dar Es Salaam and Addis Ababa the Disaster-poverty survey data is used, which contain information on how households experience floods, their perceived risk of future floods, and characteristics of household members, housing conditions and public services, and proxy for household expenditure, rent and housing costs. For Antananarivo, a Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS) is used, which covers similar variables and was therefore added to the study. The surveys were conducted in 2016 (Antananarivo), 2017 (Accra, Dar es Salaam, Addis Ababa), and 2018 (follow-up in Dar es Salaam).

To define flood exposure, self-reported information from the surveys is used. The Accra and Antananarivo surveys capture information on specific disasters (severe flooding in 2015 in Accra, and Cyclone Chedza in 2015 in Antananarivo). In the other two cities, the surveys focused on frequent flood exposure rather than a specific disaster.<sup>2</sup> Households were asked also about their perceived risk of future flood 2However, in Dar es Salaam, a follow up phone survey was conducted in 2018 to capture information on the flood experienced in that year.

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