Rip Current in Guam, June 19, 2004

Name: Rip Current in Guam, June 19, 2004
Start: 2004-06-19T12:00
End: 2004-06-19T12:00
Location: Guam

June 19, 2004 · NWS GUA · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A 17-year-old male was lost in strong currents while using a boogie board off Sugar Dock near Garapan. His body was washed ashore the afternoon of 21 June.

The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
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.

A 17-year-old male was lost in strong currents while using a boogie board off Sugar Dock near Garapan. His body was washed ashore the afternoon of 21 June. His 16-year old companion was rescued as he clung to a buoy outside the reef line.

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 Jun 19, 3:49 AM SST, 8 hours 11 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 19, 3:49 AM SST, 8 hours 11 minutes before

AREA SYNOPTIC DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU
1 AM GUAM LST SUN JUN 20 2004

WESTERN NORTH PACIFIC BETWEEN EQUATOR AND 25N FROM 130E TO 180.

TYPHOON DIANMU CENTERED NEAR 25N129E IS MOVING NORTH AT 13 MPH WITH
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS OF 120 MPH. HEAVY RAIN AND SCATTERED
THUNDERSTORMS EXTEND EAST TO 136E AND SOUTH TO 19N. SEE JTWC WARNING
WTPN31 PGTW FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

CONVERGENT FLOW INTO A BROAD CIRCULATION CENTERED NEAR 7N152E IS
GENERATING SCATTERED SHOWERS AROUND THE MARIANA ISLANDS BETWEEN 13N
AND 19N FROM 140E AND 149E...SOUTHWEST OF CHUUK BETWEEN THE EQUATOR
AND 8N FROM 145E TO 151E...AND SOUTHEAST OF CHUUK BETWEEN THE
EQUATOR AND 5N FROM 151E TO 160E.

DIVERGENT FLOW ALOFT EAST OF AN UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH FROM 15N151E TO
25N157E COMBINED WITH A SURFACE TROUGH ALONG 154E IS PRODUCING
SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WEST OF WAKE ISLAND
BETWEEN 11N AND 25N FROM 154E TO 165E.

CONVERGENT TRADE WINDS ARE PRODUCING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED
THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS KOSRAE AND THE MARSHALL ISLANDS BETWEEN THE
EQUATOR AND 10N FROM 160E TO 180 AND BETWEEN 10N AND 15N FROM 165E
TO 171E.

Event by event

1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.

Rip Current, Saipan

When: June 19, 12:00 PM SST
Where: Saipan County, Garapan
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: NEWSPAPER

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Rip Current, Saipan	2004-06-19	17	Male	In Water	Direct

What these are

Rip Current: A narrow, fast current flowing away from the beach that caused a drowning or rescue.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Guam in 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history Warnings in Guam, June 2004

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: 5431927.