Flash Flood — Rio Grande, Puerto Rico

2012-03-30 · near Rio Grande, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico

Event narrative

Several tributaries of La Mina river which feed into the Mameyes river were out of its banks over highway 191 in the upper areas of El Yunque National rainforest.

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 → (18.3596, -65.7704)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 364583. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.