Challenge
Many coastal communities in Maryland experience chronic flooding – and the problem is only expected to worsen under future sea level rise and stronger storms. To better prepare Maryland’s more than 4 million coastal residents for flood impacts, floodplain managers and decision makers needed better flood mapping capabilities for the state’s coastal zone. A new web-mapping tool would need to provide high-resolution flood maps, show Maryland-specific sea level rise and historic flooding thresholds, and deliver a seamless user experience.
Solution
A team at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources borrowed from two Digital Coast tools – the Sea Level Rise Viewer and the Lake Level Viewer to develop the Maryland Coastal Flood Explorer. This web tool combines sea level projections, historic flood events (like Hurricane Sandy), future high tide flooding, and more features to help Marylanders understand flood risks to their homes and businesses.
Previous flood mitigation efforts relied on national sea level information, which did not provide as much detail at the local level. The new tool is the first to incorporate Maryland-specific sea level projections, giving communities a more detailed outlook for their location.
The Maryland team collaborated with Digital Coast staff, who shared code from the existing national tools, to include user-friendly features that would have otherwise been difficult to build from scratch within the project timeline.
This tool was made possible through a grant from NOAA’s National Coastal Zone Management Program. (2025)
