Leveraging national datasets for systematic socio‐physical coastal flood risk assessment at the community level

Abstract The increasing frequency and intensity of hurricanes, coupled with rapid urban development in Florida, have heightened the vulnerability of coastal areas, leading to significant social and economic challenges and prolonged recovery periods. While numerous techniques have been used to evaluate the effects of hurricane‐driven storm surges along the coast, limited research has focused on developing a generalized hurricane risk analysis framework that integrates readily available national datasets with detailed information from local communities. In this paper, a novel approach has been developed to generalize the coastal flood risk analysis at the national level by leveraging the National Structure Inventory developed by the Army Corps of Engineers; the Sea, Lake, and Overland Surges from Hurricanes coastal flood hazard model developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Climate Risk and fragility‐based flood vulnerability functions. All these data have been used to develop a community‐level coastal flood risk assessment approach using three main algorithms in order to be a systematic and adaptable procedure. Although Miami‐Dade County was utilized as an example to highlight the established approach's applicability, the suggested technique is generally applicable and can be implemented in any coastal region. The analysis results are in terms of exceedance probabilities of a set of prescribed damage states, percentage of monetary loss, and potential population dislocation. This method is considered as the initial step for a generalized community resilience evaluation against flood hazards. This can assist policymakers and stakeholders to make better risk‐ and resilience‐informed decisions.