Rip Current in Guam, October 27, 2002

Name: Rip Current in Guam, October 27, 2002
Start: 2002-10-27T15:15
End: 2002-10-27T17:00
Location: Guam

October 27, 2002 · NWS GUA · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A women, Emerenciana D. Chinen, was walking along the reef on Bird Islands in Marpi with her brother Fransico Diesta and some friends, At 1515 a strong current pulled Chinen.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 2
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.

A women, Emerenciana D. Chinen, was walking along the reef on Bird Islands in Marpi with her brother Fransico Diesta and some friends, At 1515 a strong current pulled Chinen. Diesta tried to grab his sister, but was unsuccessful. One of their companions, Dani Hosek, jumped into the water and held Chinen, who was floating face down. With the assistance of David Hardt and other friends, Chinen was brought to the island. She was later brought to the Commonwealth Health Center. It was found that she had water in her lungs and suffered lack of oxygen to the brain. Also during the afternoon of the 27th, Southern High School Vice Principal Craig H. Garrison saved a one year old boy from near drowning at a beach in San Antonio.

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 Oct 27, 4:23 AM SST, 10 hours 52 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 27, 4:23 AM SST, 10 hours 52 minutes before

AREA SYNOPTIC DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU
1 AM GUAM LST MON OCT 28 2002

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

TROPICAL STORM 29W LOCATED NEAR 22N159E...APPROXIMATELY 510
MILES WEST-NORTHWEST OF WAKE ISLAND...IS MOVING NORTH-NORTHWEST AT
17 MPH WITH MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS OF 40 MPH. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND
ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE TROPICAL STORM ARE
OCCURRING BETWEEN 21N AND 28N FROM 158E TO 166E. FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION PLEASE REFER TO WTPN21 PGTW.

A MONSOON TROUGH STRETCHES FROM 8N130E TO 11N140E TO 13N149E AND
CONTINUES TO 13N157E. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS
ASSOCIATED WITH THE TROUGH ARE OCCURRING BETWEEN 2N AND 18N FROM
130E TO 140E AND BETWEEN 10N AND 16N FROM 140E TO 158E. THIS AREA
INCLUDES PALAU...YAP AND MOST OF THE MARIANA ISLANDS.

A WEAK TROUGH EXTENDS FROM 2N167E TO 13N165E. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND
ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE TROUGH ARE OCCURRING
WITHIN A TRIANGULAR SHAPED AREA BOUNDED BY THE EQUATOR AND 160E TO
15N165E TO THE EQUATOR AND 169E BACK TO THE EQUATOR AND 160E. THIS
AREA INCLUDES KOSRAE STATE AND SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF THE REPUBLIC
OF THE MARSHALL ISLANDS.

Event by event

1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.

Rip Current, Saipan

When: October 27, 3:15 PM SST to 5:00 PM SST
Where: Saipan County, Countywide
Injuries: 2 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: NEWSPAPER

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 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Guam, October 2002

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: 5325268.