This means that more land would be needed to expand urban areas than urbanization. With a poorly managed rapid urbanization process, the consumption of threatened wetlands increases, thus canceling out or reducing the positive impacts of urbanization. In Port Harcourt, the prevalence of poor development control by planning agencies, as well as poorly managed rapid urbanisation, have increased the demand for urban space, thus giving rise to further settlements, which have, in turn, ha invaded the wetland habitats of Port Harcourt. These wetlands, which serve as natural sinks for rainfall, have been drained through reclamation to make land available for residential, commercial and industrial housing, as well as other infrastructure such as roads, etc. Drainage of wetlands for urban development coupled with poor development control by planning bodies gives rise to the prevalence of flash floods in periods of heavy rainfall. These flash floods rarely occurred 15-20 years ago, when wetlands in the study area were predominantly in their natural state.