Generation II Coastal Risk Model (G2CRM)

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE or Corps) has a mission to manage flood risks: “The USACE Flood Risk Management Program (FRMP) works across the agency to focus the policies, programs and expertise of USACE toward reducing overall flood risk. This includes the appropriate use and resiliency of structures such as levees and floodwalls, as well as promoting alternatives when other approaches (e.g., land acquisition, flood proofing, etc.) reduce the risk of loss of life, reduce long-term economic damages to the public and private sector, and improve the natural environment.” As a part of that mission, the Institute for Water Resources (IWR) in cooperation with other Corps groups has developed the Generation II Coastal Risk Model (G2CRM) to support planning-level studies of hurricane protection systems (HPS). The G2CRM is distinguished from other models currently used for that purpose by virtue of its focus on probabilistic life cycle approaches. This allows for examination of important long-term issues including the impact of climate change and avoidance of repetitive damages. Key features of the model include the ability to use readily available data from existing sources and corporate databases and integration with geographic information systems (GIS). The G2CRM generates a wide variety of outputs useful for estimating damages and costs, characterizing and communicating risk, and reporting detailed model behavior, in the without-project condition and under various plan alternatives for the with-project condition.