ComCoast is a joint European project that investigates concepts that combine attractive forms of land use with a wider coastal zone that can be used during storm events for water storage. One essential feature of such a concept is that the first line of defence against flooding is resistant to considerable amounts of wave overtopping. There are several techniques under study to achieve this.

Another field of investigation is the stability of inner slopes of existing dikes during overflow or wave overtopping. Especially for dikes under severe wave attack a considerable crest height reduction can be obtained if a higher rate of overtopping can be allowed without failure of the flood prevention system. Prototype tests and large scale tests, for example in Lelystad and Zeeland (both in the Netherlands) have shown that grass-clay cover layers can be resistant to considerable rates of wave overtopping.