High Surf in Guam, June 29, 2004

Name: High Surf in Guam, June 29, 2004
Start: 2004-06-29T15:00
End: 2004-06-29T15:00
Location: Guam

June 29, 2004 · NWS GUA · 1 event in 1 county or zone

After five men went out into the waters off Piti in three kayaks, heavy surf overturned the kayaks. Two bodies were later recovered, and the other three are presumed drowned.

The toll

Deaths: 5
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.

After five men went out into the waters off Piti in three kayaks, heavy surf overturned the kayaks. Two bodies were later recovered, and the other three are presumed drowned. The surf was related to Typhoon Ting-Ting, which had passed through the northern Mariana Islands the previous day, and was at that time about 440 miles north-northwest of Guam.

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 29, 4:08 AM SST, 10 hours 52 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 29, 4:08 AM SST, 10 hours 52 minutes before

AREA SYNOPTIC DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU
1 AM GUAM LST WED JUN 30 2004

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

TYPHOON TINGTING...CENTERED NEAR 22N149E...IS MOVING NORTH-NORTHWEST
AT 13 MPH WITH MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS OF 85 MPH. NUMEROUS SHOWERS
AND SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 200 MILES FROM THE
CENTER. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS EXTEND FURTHER
OUT TO AN AREA BETWEEN 14N AND 25N FROM 138E TO 148E...INCLUDING THE
MARIANA ISLANDS. SEE JOINT TYPHOON WARNING CENTER BULLETIN WTPN32
PGTW FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

TRADE-WIND CONVERGENCE IS CREATING SCATTERED SHOWERS SOUTH OF MAJURO
BETWEEN THE EQUATOR AND 3N FROM 165E TO 177E AND EAST OF MAJURO
BETWEEN 7N AND 10N FROM 176E TO THE DATE LINE.

AN UPPER-LEVEL LOW NEAR 22N174E IS PRODUCING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND
ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS NORTH AND EAST OF WAKE ISLAND...ABOUT 100
MILES EITHER SIDE OF A LINE FROM 22N166E TO 22N176E.

Event by event

1 high surf. Local standard time, as filed.

High Surf, Guam

When: June 29, 3:00 PM SST
Where: Guam forecast zone
Deaths: 5 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
High Surf, Guam	2004-06-29	21	Male	In Water	Direct
High Surf, Guam	2004-06-29		Male	In Water	Direct
High Surf, Guam	2004-06-29		Male	In Water	Direct
High Surf, Guam	2004-06-29		Male	In Water	Direct
High Surf, Guam	2004-06-29		Male	In Water	Direct

What these are

High Surf: Large waves breaking on the shore that caused damage, erosion or casualties.

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: 5432033.