Living With Flood In Freetown’s Crowded Settlements
By Abdul Rahman Bah
Every rainy season in Sierra Leone brings fear to thousands of families living in low-lying coastal communities, but in the crowded settlements of Portee and Rokupa in eastern Freetown, survival has become more than a seasonal struggle. It has become a way of life, shaped by courage, sacrifice and community solidarity.
When heavy rains fall across the capital, floodwaters quickly invade homes built from rusted zinc, wood and broken concrete. Children wake up to soaked mattresses, women rush to save cooking utensils from muddy water, and fishermen return home only to discover that their small properties have been destroyed again. Yet, despite the hardship, many residents refuse to abandon the communities they have called home for decades.
Recent studies on flood resilience in Freetown show that Portee and Rokupa remain among the most vulnerable flood-prone communities in Sierra Leone because of poor drainage systems, overcrowding and rising sea levels linked to climate change. Researchers found that many families receive little or no formal support during flood disasters, forcing neighbours to depend on one another for survival.
For 42-year-old fish seller, Mariama Kamara, every rainy season is a battle between protecting her children and protecting the small business that feeds them. Last August, floodwaters entered her one-room home before dawn. She quickly placed her youngest child in a plastic basin to keep him above the water, while her older daughter carried their schoolbooks to a neighbour’s house on higher ground.
“We lost almost everything,” she said quietly, standing beside a damaged drainage path, now filled with garbage and stagnant water. “But I cannot leave because this is where I survive.”
Stories like Mariama’s are becoming increasingly common across Sierra Leone’s coastal communities. According to climate resilience reports, flooding now threatens education, livelihoods and public health in several parts of the country, especially in informal settlements where poverty leaves families with few choices. Schools are often damaged or temporarily closed during severe rains, forcing children out of classrooms for days or weeks.
Yet, amid the hardship, communities are finding strength in collective action. Young volunteers regularly clear blocked gutters before storms arrive. Women’s groups organize emergency food sharing for displaced families. Local youth groups use social media and word-of-mouth communication to warn residents when floodwaters begin to rise.
In one narrow alley in Rokupa, residents recently used sandbags, stones and broken timber to create a temporary flood barrier after repeated destruction of nearby houses. The effort was led not by government officials or international agencies, but by unemployed youths determined to protect elderly residents living near the shoreline.
Climate experts warn that worsening rainfall patterns and rising sea levels could place even greater pressure on vulnerable communities in the coming years. But for many residents, resilience has already become part of everyday existence.
Despite the uncertainty, children still play football in muddy streets after the rain stops. Fishermen still return to sea before sunrise. Mothers still reopen small market stalls, even after losing goods to floodwater. In communities often associated with tragedy, people continue to choose hope over surrender.
Across Sierra Leone, human survival is no longer only about enduring poverty or disaster. It is increasingly about ordinary citizens refusing to let hardship erase their dignity.
