Simulation of storm surge and overland flows using geographical information system applications

Abstract

This study focuses on a few aspects of an on-going project at Jackson State University regarding homeland security in the state of Mississippi. The project proposes an integrated tool for multi-scale storm surge and overland flow (flood) forecast due to hurricane, as well as evaluation of the flood damage on coastal infrastructure including transportation systems in the Mississippi coast. Three models are executed in sequence to get all the necessary results. Two out of these three codes are extensively parallel to ensure real time forecast to deal with the emergency evacuation days before the hurricane strikes the coast. The results from the models are fed into Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for visualization, analysis and decision-making. © 2009 WIT Press.