Sensitivity of Flood Hazard and Damage to Modelling Approaches

Combination of uncertainties in water level and wave height predictions for extreme storms can result in unacceptable levels of error, rendering flood hazard assessment frameworks less useful. A 2D inundation model, LISFLOOD-FP, was used to quantify sensitivity of flooding to uncertainty in coastal hazard conditions and method used to force the coastal boundary of the model. It is shown that flood inundation is more sensitive to small changes in coastal hazard conditions due to the setup of the regional model, than the approach used to apply these conditions as boundary forcing. Once the threshold for flooding is exceeded, a few centimetres increase in combined water level and wave height increases both the inundation and consequent damage costs. Improved quantification of uncertainty in inundation assessments can aid long-term coastal flood hazard mitigation and adaptation strategies, to increase confidence in knowledge of how coastlines will respond to future changes in sea-level.