Analysis of the coastal Mississippi storm surge hazard

Following the extreme flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) commissioned a study to update the Mississippi coastal flood hazard maps. The project included development and application of new methods incorporating the most recent advances in numerical modeling of storms and coastal hydrodynamics, analysis of the storm climatology, and flood hazard evaluation. This paper discusses the methods that were used and how they were applied to the coast of the State of Mississippi.