Rip Current in Guam, November 17, 2001

Name: Rip Current in Guam, November 17, 2001
Start: 2001-11-17T11:00
End: 2001-11-17T11:30
Location: Guam

November 17, 2001 · NWS GUA · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Ben Mafnas, a 27 year old Talofofo man, was swept over the reef in Togcha Bay. S.

The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS GUA wrote it up.

Ben Mafnas, a 27 year old Talofofo man, was swept over the reef in Togcha Bay. Police, Fire, U.S. Coast Guard and Navy HC-5 Squadron rescue units scanned the rough waters behind Jeff's Pirates Cove. A call was received at 1130. Search conditions were poor, with brief violent windstorms and 6 to 8 foot seas, making the search difficult. Mafnas was rod-and-reel fishing for unicorn fish with his stepfather Ben Naputi at about 1100. His fishing line became snagged on some rocks about 25 feet out. Mafans, who makes a living selling fish, swam out to retrieve the line when a current pulled him out to sea. Witnesses said they quickly lost sight of the man in the rough water. A Navy helicopter searched the reef and waters out to three miles while divers, personal water craft and boats searched closer in. The search continued until dusk and resumed at dawn on the 18th. The search was officially called off about 1400. The remains of Mafnas was found on the 19th. The body was found floating at about 0705 by fire rescue personnel at the channel off the shores behind Jeff's Pirates Cove.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS GUA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Nov 17, 4:04 AM SST, 6 hours 56 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 17, 4:04 AM SST, 6 hours 56 minutes before

AREA SYNOPTIC DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU
1 AM GUAM LST SUN NOV 18 2001

WESTERN NORTH PACIFIC BETWEEN EQUATOR AND 25N FROM 130E TO 180.

THE MONSOON TROUGH EXTENDS EAST FROM 10N130E TO A WEAK CIRCULATION
NORTH OF PALAU NEAR 9N136E TO A DEVELOPING CIRCULATION SOUTH OF GUAM
NEAR 8N145E TO 3N152E. THE DEVELOPING CIRCULATION SOUTH OF GUAM IS
THE SUBJECT OF A TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION ALERT ISSUED BY THE
JOINT TYPHOON WARNING CENTER. LOW-LEVEL CONVERGENCE ASSOCIATED WITH
THIS CIRCULATION IS PRODUCING A LARGE AREA OF SCATTERED SHOWERS AND
ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS BETWEEN 8N AND 15N FROM 142E TO 150E...
INCLUDING THE MARIANA ISLANDS.

LOW-LEVEL CONVERGENCE ASSOCIATED WITH THE CIRCULATION NORTH OF PALAU
IS PRODUCING SCATTERED SHOWERS BETWEEN 10N AND 17N FROM 130E TO
140E...WELL NORTH OF PALAU AND YAP.

LOW-LEVEL CONVERGENCE NEAR THE MONSOON TROUGH IS GENERATING SHOWERS
AND THUNDERSTORMS SOUTHWEST OF CHUUK...BETWEEN 1N AND 9N FROM 146E
TO 153E.

TRADE WIND CONVERGENCE IS PRODUCING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED
THUNDERSTORMS WITHIN 250 MILES EITHER SIDE OF A LINE FROM 2N160E TO
12N177E...INCLUDING KOSRAE...KWAJALEIN AND MAJURO.

A SHEAR LINE EXTENDS FROM 25N146E TO 17N130E. LOW CLOUDS AND
SCATTERED SHOWERS ARE FOUND ALONG AND NORTH OF THE SHEAR LINE.

Event by event

1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.

Rip Current, Guam

When: November 17, 11:00 AM SST to 11:30 AM SST
Where: Guam County, Talofofo
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: NEWSPAPER

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Rip Current, Guam	2001-11-17	27	Male	In Water	Direct

What these are

Rip Current: A narrow, fast current flowing away from the beach that caused a drowning or rescue.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Guam in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Guam, November 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5274725.