Urban communities worldwide face significant flood risks due to human activities and climate change. Cities in the global South, such as Dar es Salaam, have suffered severe consequences, impacting people's lives and socio-economic development. Understanding how communities build resilience to flooding is crucial in reducing its impacts. However, research on endogenous resilience practices remains limited. This study examines the causes, impacts, and local practices for building resilience to flooding in Dar es Salaam's unplanned settlements. This study used a cross-sectional approach to collect qualitative and quantitative data from 782 households in eight wards using questionnaire surveys, interviews, and field observations. The findings show that torrential and prolonged rainfall influenced by climate variability and change, uncontrolled waste dumping, limited drainage systems, haphazard building development, and increased paved areas are responsible for persistent flooding in Dar es Salaam. Floods result in drowning, property and infrastructural damage, the proliferation of mosquito-waterborne diseases, trauma, and loss of lives and livelihoods with serious public health consequences. The respondents rely on community cohesion and labour to clean water channels and place sandbags on streets to prevent soil erosion and water from entering houses, fortify houses, build raised platforms above flood level, shelter in place, and migrate to safer areas. This study contributes to the global discourse on urban disasters and local adaptation practices for a broader understanding of climatic stresses. It provides empirical evidence on urban flooding, enabling policymakers, scientists, private sector leaders, and urban planners to make informed decisions and implement targeted interventions.