Flash Flood, Belau
- When
- July 17, 12:00 PM SST to 6:00 PM SST
- Where
- Belau County, Palau
- Property damage
- $10,000
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
Flash Flood in Guam, July 17, 2003
56 inches fell at the National Weather Service Office in Palau. On the 17th hours of heavy rain caused a Japanese-era coral retaining wall to collapse in Ngerbeched.
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 GUA wrote it up.
From July 6th to 17th 15.56 inches fell at the National Weather Service Office in Palau. Periods of heavy rain during this time period caused a few landslides across Babeldaob.On the 17th hours of heavy rain caused a Japanese-era coral retaining wall to collapse in Ngerbeched. A house in Airai next to an area of mangroves was flooded.A somewhat active monsoon trough, including Tropical Depression 08W and Tropical Storm Imbudo moving along the trough, north of Palau during the time period caused occasional heavy showers to move across Palau.
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 Jul 17, 4:04 AM SST, 7 hours 56 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 17, 4:04 AM SST, 7 hours 56 minutes before
AREA SYNOPTIC DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU 1 AM GUAM LST FRI JUL 18 2003 WESTERN NORTH PACIFIC BETWEEN EQUATOR AND 25N FROM 130E TO 180. TROPICAL STORM IMBUDO (09W) IS CENTERED SOUTHEAST OF YAP NEAR 9N140E...MOVING WEST-NORTHWEST AT 12 MPH WITH MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS OF 45 MPH. SEE JOINT TYPHOON WARNING CENTER BULLETIN WTPN32 PGTW AND NWS GUAM PUBLIC ADVISORY WTPQ32 PGUM FOR FURTHER DETAILS. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ASSOCIATED WITH IMBUDO EXTEND ACROSS PALAU AND WESTERN YAP STATE BETWEEN 6N AND 14N FROM 134E AND 145E. CONVERGING WIND FLOW WELL SOUTHEAST OF IMBUDO IS GENERATING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS BETWEEN THE EQUATOR AND 5N FROM 143E TO 149E. CONVERGENT TRADE WINDS ARE GENERATING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS NEAR CHUUK BETWEEN 1N AND 10N FROM 151E TO 154E... ACROSS POHNPEI AND KOSRAE STATES BETWEEN THE EQUATOR AND 9N FROM 155E TO 168E...AND EAST OF THE MARSHALL ISLANDS BETWEEN 2N AND 10N FROM 173E TO 180. TWO UPPER-LEVEL LOWS CENTERED NEAR 21N151E AND 27N172E ARE PRODUCING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS BETWEEN 20N AND 24N FROM 154E TO 160E...AND WITHIN 150 MILES OF A LINE FROM 20N163E TO 23N176E RESPECTIVELY.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Jul 17, 6:51 AM SST, 5 hours 9 minutes before
PMZ161-171-180600- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU 4 AM GUAM LST FRI JUL 18 2003 ...IMBUDO TO BRING GUSTY WINDS AND HEAVY RAIN TO PALAU AND NGULU... AT 1 AM GUAM LST...TROPICAL STORM IMBUDO...WITH MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS OF 45 MPH...WAS CENTERED ABOUT 380 MILES EAST-NORTHEAST OF KOROR AND 160 MILES EAST-NORTHEAST OF NGULU. IMBUDO IS EXPECTED TO PASS JUST NORTHEAST OF YAP THIS AFTERNOON AND INTENSIFY INTO A TYPHOON BY SATURDAY MORNING. WATCHES AND WARNINGS HAVE BEEN ISSUED FOR YAP...ULITHI AND SOROL. SEE TROPICAL STORM IMBUDO LOCAL STATEMENT (WTPQ82 PGUM) FOR FURTHER DETAILS. FOR NGULU IN YAP STATE AND THE REPUBLIC OF PALAU FROM ANGAUR NORTHEASTWARD...MONSOON WESTERLY WINDS WILL INCREASE AS IMBUDO PASSES NORTH OF THE AREA...REACHING 25 TO 35 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY. HEAVY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL ALSO BRING UP TO 4 INCHES OF RAIN EACH DAY. ROUGH SEAS AND HAZARDOUS SURF WILL ALSO AFFECT NGULU AND PALAU OVER THE WEEKEND. SEE THE LATEST HIGH SURF ADVISORY (FZPQ70 PGUM) AND COASTAL ZONE FORECAST (FZPQ50 PGUM) FOR FURTHER DETAILS. RESIDENTS OF YAP STATE AND THE REPUBLIC OF PALAU SHOULD CONTINUE TO CLOSELY MONITOR WEATHER BULLETINS FROM LOCAL WEATHER OFFICES AND FOLLOW DIRECTIONS FROM EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS. C MA
Event by event
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
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
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Georgia, July 17, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Mississippi, July 17, 2003
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Indiana, July 17 to 18, 2003
- Lightning Strike in Mississippi, July 17, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Illinois, July 17, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Wind in South Dakota, July 17, 2003
- Damaging Wind in Louisiana, July 17, 2003
- Damaging Winds in Michigan, July 17, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Louisiana, July 17, 2003
- Lightning Strike in Michigan, July 17, 2003
- Hail in South Dakota, July 17, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Florida, July 17, 2003
More
Every storm in Guam in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Guam, July 2003
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: 5367319.