Hurricane Storm Surge Inundation: Honolulu, Hawaii

Computer model simulation of hurricane storm surge inundation around Honolulu, Hawaii using current sea level at mean higher high water (MHHW) as its baseline water level. The study area includes the urban corridor stretching from Pearl Harbor to Waikiki and Diamond Head along the south shore of the island of Oahu. The model simulates a Category 4 hurricane, similar to Hurricane Iniki which devastated the island of Kauai in 1992, with a central pressure ranging from 910 to 970 mbar and maximum sustained winds ranging from 90 to 150 mph as it tracked from open ocean to land to open ocean again. The model result shows the Maximum of the Maximum Envelope of High Water (MEOW), or MOM, providing a worst-case snapshot for a particular storm category under "perfect" storm conditions.

Model results produced in 2014 by Dr. Kwok Fai Cheung of the department of Ocean and Resources Engineering (ORE) in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Supported in part by the NOAA Coastal Storms Program (CSP) and the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program. While considerable effort has been made to implement all model components in a thorough, correct, and accurate manner, numerous sources of error are possible. The entire risk associated with the results and performance of these data is assumed by the user. These data should be used strictly as a planning reference and not for navigation, permitting, or other legal purposes.