Climate Change and Storm Surges: Assessing Impacts on Your Coastal City Through Mike Flood Modeling

The effects of climate change on sea levels and coastal flooding are some of the most prevailing issues in the engineering industry today. In this study, a comprehensive procedure for detailed analysis of flooding from the sea under climate change conditions in a localized area was developed and applied. Through hydrodynamic and statistical modeling, detailed analysis of flooding from sea level rise and storm surges could be performed using general climate change information. Time series data for extreme sea level events for a climate scenario were derived through climate modeling and statistical analysis. Then, a Mike Flood model for the area made up of a Mike Urban model and Mike 21 surface flow model was used to simulate flooding from the derived extreme sea level events. The statistical analysis considers both peak and duration of the extreme events, and the flood modeling considers both terrain relief and presence of underground pipes in flow computations. The procedure has strong scientific bases in its use of hydrodynamic computations to simulate flow over surfaces and through pipes. It gives distributed, time-varying flooding information in all parts of the model area for the duration of the event and it shows the role of drainage networks in conveying flooding further inland. The procedure provides useful flooding information for the development of specific adaptation measures that are also easily used for generating flood maps such as those required by the EU Flood Directive.