Modeling Hurricane Storm Surges and Tsunamis

With FLO-2D
Overview
Ocean storm surges such as those associated with hurricanes and typhoons and fast rising
tsunami waves as they progress inland can be simulated with the FLO-2D two-dimensional flood
routing model. Modeling ocean storm surges evolved from the need to assign time-stage
hydraulic control on unconfined floodplain routing where rivers entered estuaries or lakes.
Initially the time-stage component was developed to establish inflow to a river system or a
floodplain surface where stage rather than a discharge constituted the available data. Later it
became apparent that hydraulic control of downstream water surface elevation due to weirs or
tidal effects in estuaries could be modeled. A number of projects have been completed using the
time-stage component to set downstream hydraulic control. By setting the water stage higher
than the ground surface, inflow to coastal areas can be simulated without knowing the discharge.
Volume conservation is a key attribute for all FLO-2D flood simulations and is observed with
storm surges.
FLO-2D is a simple volume conservation, two-dimensional flood routing model that
distributes a flood hydrograph over a system of square grid elements (tiles). It can be a valuable
tool for delineating flood hazards, regulating floodplain zoning or designing flood mitigation.
FLO-2D numerically routes a flood hydrograph while predicting the area of inundation and
simulating floodwave attenuation. The model is effective for analyzing river overbank flows,
but it can also be used to analyze unconventional flooding problems such as unconfined flows
over complex alluvial fan topography and roughness, split channel flows, mud/debris flows,
urban flooding and now storm surges over coastal areas.
Starting with a basic overland flood scenario, flooding details can be added to the
simulation by turning on or off switches for various components such as channel flow, street
flow, rainfall, infiltration, loss of storage due to buildings, obstructions, levees and levee failure,
hydraulic structures (bridges and culverts), sediment transport and mudflows. Multiple flood
hydrographs can be introduced to the system at any number of inflow points either as floodplain
or channel flow. As the floodwave moves over the floodplain or down channels, flow over
adverse slopes, floodwave attenuation, ponding and backwater effects can be simulated.
FLO-2D is on FEMAs list of approved hydraulic models for riverine and unconfined
alluvial fan flood studies. It has been used by a number of federal agencies including the Corps
of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, USGS, NRCS, Fish and Wildlife Service and the National
Park Service. It has been used on hundreds of projects worldwide. Additional FLO-2D model
information can be found at the website: www.flo2d.com.

Simulating Storm Surges and Tsunamis

To simulate a simple overland sea surge or tsunami, only two data bases are necessary:
1) Digital terrain model (DTM) of the land surface above mean sea level; and 2) Time-stage data
pairs of the ocean surge. The time-stage data can be as simple as:
Time (hrs)
0.0
0.5
1.0

Stage (ft or m)
0.0
10.0
0.0

The FLO-2D software package includes a grid developer system (GDS) that will overlay
a square grid system on a set of random digital terrain (DTM) points. The GDS will filter DTM
points, interpolate the DTM data and assign elevations to grid elements. Once the grid system
has been created with assigned elevations, the GDS can be used to select the multiple grid
elements representing the coastline where the storm surge will occur. Once the coastline grid
elements are identified, the time-stage data pairs can be assigned to all of them at one time.
Modeling the flood details is the primary advantage of using FLO-2D and once the basic
storm surge or tsunami has been simulated, adding the flood details is relatively easy. Aerial
photos such as *.jpg or *.tif files can be imported to the GDS as background to the grid system to
identify and assign data representing floodwalls, streets, buildings, and channels. The data
assignment for these components has been automated in the GDS and grid elements can be
selected by painting or by polygon. Using these flood detail components, unconfined overland
flood distribution can be accurately simulated.

Storm Surge at Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii

A flood hazard delineation was conducted by Hawaii District of the Corps of Engineers
and Tetra Tech, Inc. for watersheds draining into Alawai Canal that bisects the city at Waikiki
Beach in Honolulu. The canal opens to the ocean and always has water in it with negative
channel bed elevations. The 100-year flood from various watersheds on the slopes of
Diamondhead and surrounding hills was predicted to overflow the channels and the Alawai
Canal and inundate downtown Waikiki. Some streets, buildings and number of bridges were
simulated in the urban area. This channel flood model was easily modified to simulate an ocean
storm surge. First the inflow hydrographs and rainfall were turned off. The coastline grid
elements were selected in the GDS and a simple hurricane storm surge was input as time-stage
data pairs:
Time (hrs)
0.0
1.0
6.0
8.0
12.0

Stage (ft)
0.0
1.0
8.0
1.0
0.0

This surge would have duration of seven hours with a peak surge of 8 ft above sea level at hour
6. To model other surges or a tsunami, the duration could be shortened or the stage increased.
2

The maximum area of inundation of this storm surge is shown in the following figure
generated by Mapper (a FLO-2D post-processor program). Shape files of these shaded flood
contours are automatically created by Mapper.

The area of inundation is revealed in colors ranging from blue (~1.0 ft) to red (~8.0 ft). This
particular storm surge flows through the downtown Waikiki area and into the Alawai Canal. The
canal, at this stage and duration, is an effective storm surge mitigation measure. The surge does
not cross the canal to the northeast. A higher storm surge or longer duration flooding may
overwhelm the limited storage in the canal. A Mapper animation of this surge is available to
view the progression of the floodwave through the urban area.