American Samoa, 2020

Flash Flood in American Samoa, June 11, 2020

June 11, 2020 · NWS ASO · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A surface trough stretched across the islands, combined with abundant |moisture and instability converging over American Samoa, to generate a period of heavy rainfall and some flash flooding Thursday June 11th during the late morning and early afternoon.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$100,000
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 ASO wrote it up.

A surface trough stretched across the islands, combined with abundant |moisture and instability converging over American Samoa, to generate a period of heavy rainfall and some flash flooding Thursday June 11th during the late morning and early afternoon.

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Tutuila

When
June 11, 11:46 AM SST to 4:01 PM SST
Where
Tutuila County, 4.99 mi N of Vaitogi to 5.87 mi NNW of Vaitogi
Cause
Heavy Rain
Property damage
$100,000
Reported by
Emergency Manager
Coordinates
-14.329, -170.713

The local weather office recorded 2.21 inches of rain from 10 AM to 2 PM prompting flash flooding in low lying areas and villages with poor drainage systems. Roads in Ottoville, the iliili golf course, and in the front of SAAB Pago were underwater for most of the day. Several reports from the public and the media included an SUV car stalled due to flooded roadways in the front of LDS State Center in Ottoville, and water filled homes in low-lying areas in the village of Malaeimi. After the event, huge crate-sized potholes were uncovered on the fagaima road.

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

More

Every storm in American Samoa in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in American Samoa, June 2020

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: 886381.