What is the social and mental health impact of flooding on older adults?

What is the social and mental health impact of flooding on older adults?

Humans are living longer and longer. In 2020, the number of people aged 60 and above exceeded the number of children under five. The large number of older adults will bring new challenges to the health system.

Our climate is changing, making the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, including flooding, more unpredictable, posing major threats to human safety and well-being.

Understanding the impact of flooding on older adults, particularly their well-being, is critical for preparedness, response, and recovery efforts.

What does the literature say?

We conducted a systematic review of the literature on the effects of flooding on older adults' social health and mental health. We found their vulnerability increases in several ways after floods, such as reduced access to resources and facilities, services, medicine, and safe water.

Floods impact older adults’ social health in various ways, reducing their sense of place and belonging, increasing their isolation, and reducing their network support while information remains inaccessible. After floods, the mental health conditions of older adults worsened, manifesting as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and insomnia. This review will be published soon.

The situation in the German Ahr Valley

Our fieldwork in the German Ahrtal involved observation, surveys, in-depth interviews, and group discussions. We aimed to understand the flood's impact on older adults' social and mental health, their perceptions of the flood, and the relief and recovery efforts since then.

By combining the survey results with the location information of the older adults, we plan to look at the relationship between the older adults’ post-flood social and mental health status and their geographic location.

An older adult showing their smartphone. Photo by Chen Song, July 2024. 

Through daily life activities and conversations with local older adults, we gradually painted a picture of their current situation affected by the flood. From the oral accounts of the elderly during the field survey, and with many individuals still storing photos and videos from the floods in their phones, it became clear that the flood and its impacts are still omnipresent in their lives and on their minds.

“Summer is here, and when it rains, I often worry that it will rain too much and cause a flood again”; “I sometimes dream about floods” – said the older adults.

In several villages along the Ahr River, there are areas where houses were less damaged and recovered quickly and others where houses were severely damaged and remain unrepaired.

In Ahrtal, the 2021 flooding is still a topic of conversation after three years, and many buildings are still under construction or remain desolate. For various reasons, some people have moved out and never returned, while some new residents (mostly young) have moved in.

People's health and functional status are key factors influencing their ability to cope with disasters at any age. With global climate change causing more frequent flood disasters and an increasing number of ageing populations, it is crucial to establish comprehensive flood prevention and management structures, particularly addressing the psychological and social health needs of the elderly.