Heavy Rain — Manu'a, American Samoa

2025-01-05 to 2025-01-06 · near Pago Pago, Manu'a, American Samoa

Event narrative

American Samoa Homeland Security in Ta'u reported a landslide in the village of Faleasao on Ta'u island. A boulder tumbled down to the main road on island. The boulder took up the majority of the eastbound and westbound lanes to make the road impassible. The landslide occurred overnight on 05th/early 06th blocking the only roadway to connect the west side and east side of the island. Three inches of rainfall is estimated during this time for Ta'u island. The debris from the landslide was cleared on late in the afternoon.

Wider weather episode

From January 6th through January 10th, a strong South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ) strengthened over the American Samoa islands. WSO Pago Pago recorded 16.33 inches of rain during these 5 days and 21.39 inches of rainfall was measured from Jan 04th through the 10th. This is the highest seven day rainfall event recorded at the WSO Pago Pago office. Sustained winds reached over 40 MPH with gusts over 50 MPH at times, which was recorded by the WSO Pago Pago station and the NOAA observatory in Tula. Impacts from the SPCZ's strong winds and heavy rainfall include: landslides, numerous trees knocked over, widespread flash flooding, airline cancelations for all islands, American Samoa's Governor closing all schools on January 10th, and multiple island wide power outages for Tutuila island. Two daily rainfall records were broken (January 9th and 10th).

View location on OpenStreetMap → (-14.2202, -169.5081)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1226002. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.