Flooding poses a significant threat to communities, ecosystems, and infrastructure, necessitating acomprehensive understanding of hydrological dynamics for effective mitigation and management. Flood prediction and hydrological modeling stand at the forefront of addressing contemporary challenges in water resources management. Against the backdrop of escalating climate variability and landscape modifications, the accurate prediction of floods becomes paramount. Unprecedented rainfall, changing river discharges, and evolving topographical features contribute to the challenges of predicting and managing floods. This research delves into the complex dynamics of flood modeling, presenting a comprehensive analysis of model performance, sensitivity to key parameters, and the impact of various environmental factors with a focus on the Mississippi River. A highresolution hydrodynamic model was developed and tested using field observations and aerial images of flood inundation extent for the Middle Mississippi River focusing on simulating significant flooding events in 2019, 2018, and 2020. The research establishes the model’s temporal consistency, showcasing its reliability across multiple years. A systematic analysis of model sensitivity to data and mesh resolution, turbulence model choice, and Manning’s roughness on predictive accuracy is reported. The study unravels the complex interplay of increased rainfall, river discharge, and dynamic landscape changes, emphasizing their influence on the precision of flood prediction. Model performance related to the choice of bottom roughness and the varying impacts of different topo-bathy resolutions on location-specific hydrological dynamics are notable observations. The investigation into the effects of levee construction at St. Louis, MO provides valuable insights into the dynamic impact of levees on gauge height and discharge patterns. The research recommends strategies for model optimization, including the meticulous selection of hydrological parameters and enhanced spatial resolution. The need for continuous model refinement and validation against realworld data is stressed. In addition to advancing hydrodynamic modeling and providing practical guidelines for flood management and infrastructure development, the research underscores the significance of collaborative decision-making with stakeholders and a comprehensive understanding of the spatial and temporal dynamics of levee impacts on hydrological processes.
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