Using Hydrodynamic Modeling for Estimating Flooding and Water Depths in Grand Bay, Alabama

This paper presents a methodology for using hydrodynamic modeling to estimate inundation areas and water depths during a hurricane event. The Environmental Fluid Dynamic Code (EFDC) is used in this research. EFDC is one of the most commonly applied models to Gulf of Mexico estuaries. The event with which the hydrodynamic model was tested was hurricane Ivan. This hurricane made landfall at the Alabama Gulf Coast in September 16, 2004. Hurricane Ivan was the most severe hurricane to hit eastern Alabama. Results show that the EFDC model is able to generate instances of flooded areas before, during and after a hurricane event (Ivan hurricane). The model also estimated water depths and water surface elevation values consistent to measured data reported in the literature, and comparable to model-estimated data from a mesoscale Slosh model for the region (also reported in the literature).