Lightning Strike in Puerto Rico, September 24, 2002

Name: Lightning Strike in Puerto Rico, September 24, 2002
Start: 2002-09-24T15:00
End: 2002-09-24T15:10
Location: Puerto Rico

September 24, 2002 · NWS SJU · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Lightning struck a power pole, knocking down power lines at the intersection of roads 853 and 859.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $10,000
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.

Lightning struck a power pole, knocking down power lines at the intersection of roads 853 and 859.

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 Sep 24, 11:35 AM AST, 3 hours 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 24, 11:35 AM AST, 3 hours 25 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JUAN PR
1135 AM AST TUE SEP 24 2002

AGREED WITH PREVIOUS FORECAST. LILI WILL PASS WELL TO THE SOUTH OF
THE ISLANDS IN A SAFE DISTANT AND THE MAIN THREAT WILL BE FLOODING
TONIGHT AND EARLY WEDNESDAY. ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR ALL OF
PUERTO RICO AND THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLAND.

EQUIPMENT: NO PROBLEMS AT THIS TIME.

.SJU...
.PR...FFA PRZ001>013 SCA AMZ710>740. CFA AMZ740 AND AMZ730 AND
PRZ002-003-007-011-013.
.VI...FFA VIZ001-002. SCA AMZ710>730. CFA VIZ002.

15

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 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, San Juan and Vicinity

When: September 24, 3:00 PM AST to 3:10 PM AST
Where: San Juan and Vicinity County, Carolina
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

What these are

Lightning: A lightning strike that killed, injured or caused damage.

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, September 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: 5320155.