Flash Flood — Vega Baja, Puerto Rico

2012-03-29 · near Vega Baja, Vega Baja, Puerto Rico

Event narrative

Car stranded in road 160 due to Cibuco river out of its banks.

Wider weather episode

Upper level trough across the western Atlantic combined with a very weak steering flow at the surface and daytime heating produced numerous showers with thunderstorms across the Cordillera Central. The hardest hit areas were from the central interior to the north coast affecting the Rio Grande de Arecibo and its tributaries, the Rio Manati, Rio Cibuco, Rio de la Plata, Rio Camuy, Rio Fajardo, Rio Naguabo and Rio Espiritu Santo. A USGS gage in the Rio Tanama basin (tributary to the Rio Grande de Arecibo) had a 24 hour report of over 12 inches on March 29th. The incredible runoff from this rainfall within the Rio Grande de Arecibo basin in addition to flow from the Rio Grande de Arecibo at Lago Dos Bocas, which rose to almost 303 feet ' almost 6 feet above the spillway, caused rapid and significant rises in the municipality of Arecibo, downstream from Dos Bocas reservoir to the coast.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (18.4374, -66.3711)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 364579. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.