Research Article | | Peer-Reviewed

Flood Risk Zone Identification Using Land Use/Land Cover Change Detection and AHP Analysis

Received: 12 November 2025     Accepted: 13 January 2026     Published: 20 February 2026
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Abstract

Flooding is a prevalent disaster in both developed and developing nations, exerting a lasting influence on several regions in Lagos State. In this study, the geographical information system (GIS) technique and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) of the multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) technique were used to create a floodplain map of Lagos State. Rainfall, land use land cover (LULC), slope, digital elevation model, flow direction, drainage density, normalized difference water index (Ndwi), and soil texture map were the eight parameters identified. The data about the factors were obtained from an online source and processed using the spatial analytic tools in ArcGIS 10.6.1. To calculate the relevant ranking weight, the elements were compared pairwise. The output consistency ratio (CR) was 2.7%, which is below the permitted limit of 10%. The weight percentage obtained was then utilized in the weighted overlay operation to identify the flood risk zone. Based on an analysis of the produced land use and land cover in 2020, 2022, and 2024, changes in water bodies were found to be proportional to changes in built-up areas, with a kappa coefficient of the dataset being 82.8%. From the results, up to 25% of Lagos State is covered by water bodies, 58% of the state's total land is in the high flood zone, and less than 1% is in the very high and low flood areas. Overlaying locations subsequently validated the result declared flood-threatened by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), giving an agreement ratio of approximately 85% and found to fall within the high flood zones.

Published in Earth Sciences (Volume 15, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.earth.20261501.16
Page(s) 72-85
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2026. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Flood Risk, Geographical Information System (GIS), Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), Land Use, Land Cover

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Alausa, O., Omogunloye, O., Adaradohun, O., Attah, T. (2026). Flood Risk Zone Identification Using Land Use/Land Cover Change Detection and AHP Analysis. Earth Sciences, 15(1), 72-85. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20261501.16

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    ACS Style

    Alausa, O.; Omogunloye, O.; Adaradohun, O.; Attah, T. Flood Risk Zone Identification Using Land Use/Land Cover Change Detection and AHP Analysis. Earth Sci. 2026, 15(1), 72-85. doi: 10.11648/j.earth.20261501.16

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    AMA Style

    Alausa O, Omogunloye O, Adaradohun O, Attah T. Flood Risk Zone Identification Using Land Use/Land Cover Change Detection and AHP Analysis. Earth Sci. 2026;15(1):72-85. doi: 10.11648/j.earth.20261501.16

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  • @article{10.11648/j.earth.20261501.16,
      author = {Olalekan Alausa and Olusola Omogunloye and Oluwayemisi Adaradohun and Theophilus Attah},
      title = {Flood Risk Zone Identification Using Land Use/Land Cover Change Detection and AHP Analysis},
      journal = {Earth Sciences},
      volume = {15},
      number = {1},
      pages = {72-85},
      doi = {10.11648/j.earth.20261501.16},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20261501.16},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.earth.20261501.16},
      abstract = {Flooding is a prevalent disaster in both developed and developing nations, exerting a lasting influence on several regions in Lagos State. In this study, the geographical information system (GIS) technique and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) of the multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) technique were used to create a floodplain map of Lagos State. Rainfall, land use land cover (LULC), slope, digital elevation model, flow direction, drainage density, normalized difference water index (Ndwi), and soil texture map were the eight parameters identified. The data about the factors were obtained from an online source and processed using the spatial analytic tools in ArcGIS 10.6.1. To calculate the relevant ranking weight, the elements were compared pairwise. The output consistency ratio (CR) was 2.7%, which is below the permitted limit of 10%. The weight percentage obtained was then utilized in the weighted overlay operation to identify the flood risk zone. Based on an analysis of the produced land use and land cover in 2020, 2022, and 2024, changes in water bodies were found to be proportional to changes in built-up areas, with a kappa coefficient of the dataset being 82.8%. From the results, up to 25% of Lagos State is covered by water bodies, 58% of the state's total land is in the high flood zone, and less than 1% is in the very high and low flood areas. Overlaying locations subsequently validated the result declared flood-threatened by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), giving an agreement ratio of approximately 85% and found to fall within the high flood zones.},
     year = {2026}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Flood Risk Zone Identification Using Land Use/Land Cover Change Detection and AHP Analysis
    AU  - Olalekan Alausa
    AU  - Olusola Omogunloye
    AU  - Oluwayemisi Adaradohun
    AU  - Theophilus Attah
    Y1  - 2026/02/20
    PY  - 2026
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20261501.16
    DO  - 10.11648/j.earth.20261501.16
    T2  - Earth Sciences
    JF  - Earth Sciences
    JO  - Earth Sciences
    SP  - 72
    EP  - 85
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-5982
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20261501.16
    AB  - Flooding is a prevalent disaster in both developed and developing nations, exerting a lasting influence on several regions in Lagos State. In this study, the geographical information system (GIS) technique and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) of the multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) technique were used to create a floodplain map of Lagos State. Rainfall, land use land cover (LULC), slope, digital elevation model, flow direction, drainage density, normalized difference water index (Ndwi), and soil texture map were the eight parameters identified. The data about the factors were obtained from an online source and processed using the spatial analytic tools in ArcGIS 10.6.1. To calculate the relevant ranking weight, the elements were compared pairwise. The output consistency ratio (CR) was 2.7%, which is below the permitted limit of 10%. The weight percentage obtained was then utilized in the weighted overlay operation to identify the flood risk zone. Based on an analysis of the produced land use and land cover in 2020, 2022, and 2024, changes in water bodies were found to be proportional to changes in built-up areas, with a kappa coefficient of the dataset being 82.8%. From the results, up to 25% of Lagos State is covered by water bodies, 58% of the state's total land is in the high flood zone, and less than 1% is in the very high and low flood areas. Overlaying locations subsequently validated the result declared flood-threatened by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), giving an agreement ratio of approximately 85% and found to fall within the high flood zones.
    VL  - 15
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

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