Flood in Puerto Rico, December 2, 2001

Name: Flood in Puerto Rico, December 2, 2001
Start: 2001-12-02T15:00
End: 2001-12-02T16:00
Location: Puerto Rico

December 2, 2001 · NWS SJU · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Emergency Managers reported that Rio La Vaja in Ciales went out of its banks flooding nearby areas.

The toll

Deaths: 0
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 SJU wrote it up.

Emergency Managers reported that Rio La Vaja in Ciales went out of its banks flooding nearby areas.

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 San Juan, PR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 2, 11:00 AM AST, 4 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 2, 11:00 AM AST, 4 hours before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JUAN PR
1100 AM AST SUN DEC 02 2001

THE 12Z SJU RAOB WAS DELAYED BUT IS AVAILABLE FOR THIS DISCUSSION.
THE AMS HAS BECOME MUCH MORE UNSTABLE SINCE THIS SAME TIME
YESTERDAY. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS COULD DEVELOP ANYWHERE.
RIGHT NOW THEY ARE OVER THE OCEAN. AS THE ISLAND HEATS UP
THIS ENERGY WILL BE RELEASED AND WE ARE FORECASTING A 50 TO 70
PERCENT CHANCE FOR SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON FAVORING
THE SOUTH...INTERIOR AND WEST. SOME CHANGES TO THE FIRST PERIOD
WILL BE MADE. OLGA CONTINUES TO STRENGTHEN BUT DOES NOT POSE ANY
DANGER TO PR/VI.

EQUIPMENT: NO PROBLEMS AT THIS TIME.

.SJU...
.PR...NONE.
.VI...NONE.

17

WRITTEN TEXT FORECASTS (IN ENGLISH OR SPANISH)...SATELLITE IMAGERY
...DOPPLER RADAR DATA...AND A VIRTUAL LIBRARY OF WEATHER INFORMATION
CAN BE FOUND AT THE NWS SAN JUAN WEB SITE AT:

HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/SJU (ALL LOWER CASE).

Event by event

1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Central Interior

When: December 2, 3:00 PM AST to 4:00 PM AST
Where: Central Interior County, Ciales
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Puerto Rico in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Puerto Rico, December 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: 5275360.