HICUP/sup TM/ Hurricane Induced Coastal Inundation Program

Abstract

HICUP/sup TM/ is a modular program developed for the Windows 95/98 operating system, that enables the user to predict, in real-time, the hurricane generated waves and coastal inundation at site-specific locations in Hawaii due to an approaching hurricane. Its suite of program modules permits user input of the hurricane parameters, user selection of the specific coastal area of interest, computation of hurricane wind/wave fields, numerical modeling of wave transformation and wave setup on a 2-dimensional numerical grid of the nearshore and shoreline area selected, and the prediction of the spatial extent of coastal inundation plotted over a USGS map of the selected coastal reach. HICUP/sup TM/ is a first-of-its-kind program in several respects. First, it is the only software application available that will enable real-time predictions of Hawaiian island coastal inundation due to an approaching hurricane. Second, the 2-dimensional formulation for modeling wave-induced setup is the first of its kind. Third, it is the only software application of its kind to be developed specifically for use by non-engineers. The software package was initially calibrated and verified for a case study site on the south shore of Kauai, where significant data were available documenting hurricane inundation and wave runup limits. Coverage has expanded to two more sites, one on the south-west shore of Oahu and the other on the south side of Maui. Future development work on HICUP/sup TM/ will expand its application to other site-specific coastal areas.