Over the past several years, severe storm surges, flooding, and other life-threatening phenomena have affected coastal communities in myriad ways. When weather systems threaten the coast, emergency responders rely on high-precision storm modeling systems and real-time data to accurately predict hurricane activity and flooding threats, collaborate with each other, and make critical decisions that will protect the lives and property of millions of U.S. residents.
During the 2018 hurricane season, as Hurricanes Florence and Michael blew toward the Carolinas and the Florida panhandle, respectively, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) were using a suite of early warning technologies and storm modeling software to inform their operations and responses both before and after the hurricanes made landfall. This suite of tools, better known as the ADCIRC Prediction System (APS), played an integral role in accurately predicting the storm surges, flooding, wind and wave interactions, and speed of tides and currents associated with both Florence and Michael.
