Nov. 16, 2012
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NEW YORK—ERDC Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL), working through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) Reachback Operations Center (UROC), was asked by the USACE New York District to provide numerical modeling of potential inundation and overland flooding for Hurricane Sandy that made landfall on Oct. 29 and the nor'easter that followed on Nov. 7.
Using the ADCIRC (ADvanced CIRCulation) model from the CSTORM-Modeling System along with GSSHA (Gridded Surface Subsurface Hydrologic Analysis) model, CHL produced detailed flood predictions of the greater New York area and Long Island, along with pre-storm surge predictions along the New Jersey coast for both Hurricane Sandy and the later nor'easter.
Rainfall and wind and pressure fields were derived from the National Hurricane Center advisories. The wind fields and pressure fields were used to drive the ADCIRC model to create storm surge estimates, which were then used in the GSSHA model, along with rainfall estimates, to determine total inland flooding for the New York area. The results were used for planning efforts to supplement official inundation forecasts from the National Weather Service.