Flash Flood in Puerto Rico, April 5, 2002

Name: Flash Flood in Puerto Rico, April 5, 2002
Start: 2002-04-05T15:30
End: 2002-04-05T18:00
Location: Puerto Rico

April 5, 2002 · NWS SJU · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Torrential rains occurred over the northwest sections of Puerto Rico but mainly in the vicinity of Isabela. Rainfall accumulation was near six inches of rain in a three hour period.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $300,000
Crop damage: $20,000
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.

Torrential rains occurred over the northwest sections of Puerto Rico but mainly in the vicinity of Isabela. Rainfall accumulation was near six inches of rain in a three hour period. This rainfall caused many irrigation channels to overflow affecting several roads and communities in low lying areas. Emergency Managers indicated that about 100 houses were affected by the waters as well as some factories and small businesses along road 2. In addition, crops of beans, coriander and eggplant were affected by the waters.

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 5, 11:02 AM AST, 4 hours 28 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 5, 11:02 AM AST, 4 hours 28 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JUAN PR
1100 AM AST FRI APR 5 2002

12Z SOUNDING CAME IN WITH VERY LIGHT WINDS UP THROUGH LOWER LEVELS.
SOUTHEAST STEERING FLOW AT LOW LEVELS. EXPECT SE FLOW THROUGH THIS
AFTERNOON BUT VERY LIGHT. THEREFORE SEA BREEZE SHOULD BE MORE
DOMINANT THIS AFTERNOON AND EXPECT CONVERGENCE IN W-NW PR AND SOME
STREAMERS PRODUCING CLOUDS AND SHOWERS TO THE NORTHWEST OF THE
ISLANDS AND BETWEEN EL YUNQUE AND THE SAN JUAN METRO AREA.

AS FOR MARINE...SEAS WILL REMAIN LOW THROUGH SATURDAY WITH
RELATIVELY LIGHT WINDS.

EQUIPMENT: 88-D RADAR DOWN FOR MAINTENANCE THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON.

RGZ

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

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 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Northwest

When: April 5, 3:30 PM AST to 6:00 PM AST
Where: Northwest County, Isabela
Property damage: $300,000
Crop damage: $20,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER

What these are

Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

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: 5292825.