Presenter
Amin Kiaghadi, Ph.D., P.E.
Coastal Modeling Team Lead, Coastal Science
Texas Water Development Board
Description
Part of the increase in damage of more recent storms (Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma, for instance) can be attributed to the higher levels of flooding due to combined effects from riverine flows and storm surge, known as compound flooding. A compound event can be defined as a combination of simultaneous or sequential processes leading to a more significant event. In addition to land inundation and damages to the infrastructures, such events could cause significant social and environmental impacts at various scales from microbial communities and their role in ecosystems all the way up to community health and the built environment. Deep integration across disciplines in both science and engineering is necessary to tackle such a complex challenge. In this talk, several predictive hydrodynamic modeling frameworks and their capability in simulation compound flooding will be discussed. Case studies along the coast of Texas will be used to better illustrate various factors that could change the behavior of compound flooding. Additionally, environmental and social aspects of the extreme events and the applications of the aforementioned frameworks beyond water surface elevation/depth and inundation levels will be covered.
