Fluctuations of the total water level in the U.S. East Coast depends on the complex interactions of freshwater flow, tide, storm surge and wave actions. In order to include all major forcings of water movement in this area, a coupled modeling system consisting of the National Water Model (NWM), the Advanced Circulation Ocean Model (ADCIRC), and the WAVEWATCH III model has been developed. In this system, a coupled inland hydrologic model is linked to an ocean hydrodynamic and wave model to compute total water levels in the coastal zones. In the freshwater component of the hydrodynamic model, 1D river components were included in the model to capture an accurate representation of tributaries to the 2D model of the estuary and oceans. The model domain included several states of the US East Coast starting from New Jersey to the St. Croix River at the US-Canada border. Model simulations were compared with 2012 superstorm Sandy measured tidal water levels and hurricane surge. Initial simulations reproduced satisfactory spatial and temporal variations of water levels due to riverine discharge and storm surge. The model predictions showed that using 1D component allowed better representations of the inland rivers and produced accurate river water levels. Simulations indicated that water levels in the inland areas depends on both river discharges and backwater effects of the ocean. These results showed the strengths of the coupled modeling system used in this research to compute total water levels during river flooding that coincides with extreme hurricane surge. Initial results showed that the coupled modeling framework used in this study is capable of total water estimation in the coastal zones and the accuracy of the water levels highly depends on the availability of reliable topographic, bathymetric, and bottom roughness data.