Simulation of storm surge inundation under different typhoon intensity scenarios: case study of Pingyang County, China

Abstract

Abstract. China is one of the countries that is most seriously affected by storm surges. In recent years, storm surges in coastal areas of China have caused huge economic losses and a large number of human casualties. Knowledge of the inundation range and water depth of storm surges under different typhoon intensities could assist predisaster risk assessment and making evacuation plans, as well as provide decision support for responding to storm surges. Taking Pingyang County in Zhejiang Province as a case study area, parameters including typhoon tracks, radius of maximum wind speed, astronomical tide, and upstream flood runoff were determined for different typhoon intensities. Numerical simulations were conducted using these parameters to investigate the inundation range and water depth distribution of storm surges in Pingyang County considering the impact of seawall collapse under five different intensity scenarios (corresponding to minimum central pressure values equal to 915, 925, 935, 945, and 965 hPa). The inundated area ranged from 103.51 to 233.16 km2 for the most intense typhoon. The proposed method could be easily adopted in various coastal counties and serves as an effective tool for decision-making in storm surge disaster risk reduction practices.