This new tool predicts if storm surge could threaten your house during a major hurricane

A tool from the National Hurricane Center will show you a prediction of storm surge you could expect should a hurricane make direct landfall in your area.

The storm surge risk map, allowing residents of Coastal areas across the U.S. to see their vulnerability to tropical cyclones in greater detail than ever before using an interactive online viewer.

The risk map, viewable here, uses a storm simulation model, SLOSH, that’s developed by the National Weather Service to calculate how many feet of storm surge might inundate a given location in each of the five hurricane categories.

The new version, which was updated in June, is accurate along the Gulf Coast and East Coast to a resolution of 10 meters. The prior version was only accurate to 30 meters.

The new version also added Southern California, Guam, American Samoa, and the Yucatan Peninsula to the areas mapped.

The Sun Herald used an address on Government Street in downtown Ocean Springs, Mississippi as a starting point for the simulation.

Government Street would likely not be affected by surge in a Category 1 or 2 hurricane, the simulation shows. But if Category 5 hurricane made landfall on the Mississippi Coast, storm surge of up nine feet could submerge almost all of Ocean Springs.

Much of Hancock County below Interstate 10 may have to deal storm surge in Category 1 or 2 storms, the simulation shows. Category 5 storm would bring surge above the interstate and into rural area.

You can learn more about how the maps were created on the NOAA website.

The National Hurricane Center recommends that those who live in areas vulnerable to storm surge make plans for how and where they will evacuate in the event of a hurricane.

“These maps make it clear that storm surge is not just a beachfront problem, with the risk of storm surge extending many miles inland from the immediate coastline in some areas,” the NWS said.