Flood in Puerto Rico, April 25, 2002

Name: Flood in Puerto Rico, April 25, 2002
Start: 2002-04-25T13:00
End: 2002-04-25T15:00
Location: Puerto Rico

April 25, 2002 · NWS SJU · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Heavy rains caused a small stream to overflow its banks in Utuado flooding four houses nearby and low lying areas. In addition, this rainfall caused various landslides.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $20,000
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.

Heavy rains caused a small stream to overflow its banks in Utuado flooding four houses nearby and low lying areas. In addition, this rainfall caused various landslides.

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 Apr 25, 9:41 AM AST, 3 hours 19 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 25, 9:41 AM AST, 3 hours 19 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JUAN PR
930 AM AST THU APR 25 2002

DRYING WILL BE A RATHER SLOW PROCESS. LATEST SAN JUAN SOUNDING
INDICATES MOIST UNSTABLE AIRMASS WITH COOLER TEMPERATURES ABOVE 600
MB. EVEN MORE UNSTABLE THAN ON WEDNESDAY. THE MRF AND ETA MODELS
BRING DRIER AIR THROUGH TONIGHT WITH NGM BEING THE DRIEST. AT MID
LEVELS A TROUGH IS FORECAST TO CROSS FROM WEST TO EAST THROUGH
FRIDAY WITH BETTER CHANCES FOR RAINFALL FRIDAY. PREVIOUS FORECAST
WITH DRYING TREND VERY REASONABLE. NO MAJOR CHANGES ANTICIPATED.

CLIMATOLOGY FOR LATE APRIL SIMILAR TO THE NORMAL WET MONTH OF MAY.
SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS GOOD BET FOR INTERIOR...WEST AND
NORTHWEST.

EQUIPMENT: DOPPLER RADAR UCP STILL OUT OF SERVICE.

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

RM

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, Western Interior

When: April 25, 1:00 PM AST to 3:00 PM AST
Where: Western Interior County, Utuado
Property damage: $20,000
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 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Puerto Rico, April 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: 5292831.