International Journal of Disaster Risk Management • Vol. 6, No. 2 • https://doi.org/10.18485/ijdrm.2024.6.2.14 International Journal of Disaster Risk Management Journal homepage: hps://internationaljournalofdisasterriskmanagement.com Publisher: Scientific-Professional Society for Disaster Risk Management Research Article An Assessment of Socio-Economic Impacts of Rainstorm Disaster on the Livelihood of the Residents of Ikole Local Government Area in Ekiti State, Nigeria Oluwayemisi Ireti Ogunleye 1 *, Segun Joseph Arohunsoro 1 1 Department of Geography and Planning Science, Faculty of the Social Sciences, Ekiti State University, P.M.B 5363, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria; amudayemisi@yahoo.com (O.I.O.); segunaros2002@yahoo.com (S.J.A.). * Correspondence: amudayemisi@yahoo.com.; +2347030096757 Received: 5 August 2024; Revised: 18 October 2024; Accepted 10 November; Published: 25 December Abstract This study assessed the socio-economic impacts of the rainstorm disaster which occurred on 3 rd March, 2023 on the livelihood of the residents of Ikole LGA in Ekiti State, Nigeria. The study area is prone to recurring rainstorms, a natural and metrological disaster that has ravaged the livelihoods of the residents of Ekiti State. The weather (sunshine hours, temperature, relative humidity, cloud cover, visibility, wind direction, wind speed and rainfall) information of Ikole LGA on 3 rd March 2023 was obtained from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, Oshodi, Lagos, and the incidence/pro- file of rainstorm in Ikole LGA on the same day was obtained from the Ekiti State Emergency Man- agement Agency. A well–designed and structured questionnaire was administered to respondents to obtain information on the kind of losses encountered by the victims of rainstorm disasters in the locations and the coping strategies they adopted in mitigating the effects of the disaster. The data collected from the victims were analyzed with an SPSS package, presented in tables and followed with discussion. The results showed that the rainstorm brought about socio-economic hardship on the victims in the study area. It was discovered that some of the relief measures on the ground were short-term measures which provided no lasting solution to the menace. Some general measures suggested among others to mitigate the effects of rainstorms include proper construction of a storm- water drainage system in the study area and the Planting of low-height vegetation that can serve as wind-break. Keywords Disaster, rainstorm, rainstorm disaster, relief measures, livelihood. 1. Introduction A disaster is a catastrophic and calamitous event that can be originated from both man-made and natural origin. It could also be geological (landslide, earthquake, soil creep), chemical and tech- nological (Chornobyl disaster, oil spills, accidents), metrological (erosion, flooding, rainstorm) and biological (outbreak of epidemics such as pandemics like Ebola, covid-19) Sharif, (2020), (Ibidun