Rip Current — Guam, Guam

2022-11-25 to 2022-11-26 · Guam, Guam

Event narrative

A 17 year old girl died from drowning on November 25th. She was swimming with her a group of her friends near Gregorio Perez Park in Mangilao on the afternoon of November 25th. Here sister said they were out 50 feet form the shore, and all of them started to go under the water and drown. She was holding on to one of her friends when she realized she might be endangering both of them. She let go of her friend, who made it to shore, but unfortunately floundered in the swell and drowned. It took about an hour for rescuers to find her body. Ritidian buoy showed the largest waves between 8 and 9 feet with a 10 second period. A long period north swell was producing a high risk of rip currents.

Wider weather episode

Long period swells generated a rip currents over the Marianas in November. Two events occurred at Guam during the month.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1062810. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.