Puerto Rico, 2002

Flash Flooding in Puerto Rico, June 5, 2002

June 5, 2002 · NWS SJU · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

A surface trough was located across the local region producing a south and moist wind flow. Numerous showers and thunderstorms persisted over the south sections of Puerto Rico for most of the day causing landslides and flooded roads.

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$40,000
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
2

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.

A surface trough was located across the local region producing a south and moist wind flow. Numerous showers and thunderstorms persisted over the south sections of Puerto Rico for most of the day causing landslides and flooded roads. Hundreds of residents in the coastal sectors in Juana Diaz were evacuated as the floodgates were opened north of the town. A landslide blocked traffic in Juana Diaz and another landslide in Guayanilla caused a tree to topple over electric lines. In Ponce, a water canal overflow its banks flooding a major highway.

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 Jun 4, 11:40 PM AST, 1 hour 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 4, 11:40 PM AST, 1 hour 20 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JUAN PR
1140 PM AST TUE JUN 4 2002

AT THIS TIME...SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND ISOLATED
THUNDERSTORMS...SOME WITH HEAVY RAIN CONTINUE TO DEVELOP FROM THE
MONA PASSAGE TO JUST OFF THE SOUTHWEST TIP OF PUERTO RICO THEN
CONTINUING EAST ALONG AND JUST OFF THE SOUTH AND EAST COASTS OF
PUERTO RICO. EXPECT THIS TREND TO CONTINUE OVERNIGHT...AS PREVAILING
SOUTH WIND MEETS LAND BREEZE RESULTING IN GOOD LOW LEVEL
CONVERGENCE...WITH MID TO UPPER LEVEL TROUGH PROVIDING DECENT
DYNAMICS AS WELL. SOME OF THESE SHOWERS AND STORMS WILL OCCASIONALLY
MAKE IT INLAND AND HAVE DECIDED TO EXTEND FFA FOR ZONES 2/3/4/7/10
AND 11 THROUGH 8 AM WEDNESDAY. ELSEWHERE...LITTLE OR NO RAINFALL
OCCURRING AND LET REMAINDER OF PREVIOUS FFA EXPIRE AT 1100 PM. SENT
QUICK ZFP UPDATE TO REVISE FFA SITUATION AND TO ALTER SKY COVER AND
POPS IN MOST ZONES.

FOR COASTAL WATERS...MADE A FEW MINOR SEMANTIC ALTERATIONS TO
PREVIOUS CWF...OTHERWISE NO CHANGES.

EQUIPMENT: NO PROBLEMS AT THIS TIME.

.SJU...
.PR...FFA ZONES 2/3/4/7/10/11 UNTIL 8AM WEDNESDAY.
.VI...NONE.

SEELEY

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

2 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Ponce and Vicinity

When
June 5, 1:00 AM AST to 1:00 PM AST
Where
Ponce and Vicinity County, Countywide
Property damage
$30,000
Reported by
NEWSPAPER

Flash Flood, Southeast

When
June 5, 1:00 AM AST to 1:00 PM AST
Where
Southeast County, Countywide
Property damage
$10,000
Reported by
NEWSPAPER

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

More

Every storm in Puerto Rico in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Puerto Rico, June 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: 5300971, 5300972.