American Samoa, 2013

Heavy Rain in American Samoa, December 9, 2013

December 9, 2013 · NWS ASO · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Heavy rainfall near Fagaitua High School campus generated runoff and increasing waterflow in streams and creeks. However, due to poor drainages and unfiltered drainage outlets, the sidewalks and grounds were covered up to an ankle high of floodwater.

Where it happened

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  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
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The toll

Deaths
0
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 ASO wrote it up.

Heavy rainfall near Fagaitua High School campus generated runoff and increasing waterflow in streams and creeks. However, due to poor drainages and unfiltered drainage outlets, the sidewalks and grounds were covered up to an ankle high of floodwater. Some of the classrooms on the first floor were impacted by this situation. No injury or fatalities reported.

Heavy rainfall was a result of an active surface trough to the west southwest of the Samoan Islands. Low-level convergence near the trough axis has enhanced clouds and isolated thunderstorms to move over Tutuila.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Rain, Tutuila

When
December 9, 6:00 AM SST to 12:00 PM SST
Where
Tutuila County, 10.03 mi WNW of Vaitogi to 3.96 mi NE of Pago Pago
Reported by
Newspaper
Coordinates
-14.334, -170.833

Heavy rain drenched most of Tutuila during this event. At Fagaitua High School, an ankle-high floodwater covered the walkway and grounds of the campus, and water raced into some of the classrooms on the first floor. This situation could have been prevented if the drainage outlets were filtered before and during the heavy rain. The high school students were released from the school before noon.

What these are

Heavy Rain
Rainfall totals unusual for the place and season that did not produce a flood.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in American Samoa in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in American Samoa, December 2013

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: 480969.