Hurricane (Typhoon) — Guayama, Puerto Rico

1999-11-16 to 1999-11-18 · Guayama, Puerto Rico

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Lenny evolved from a tropical depression over the western Caribbean on Saturday November 13, 1999. The storm strengthened to a hurricane the evening of November 14 while moving on an unusual track to the east. At 500 pm on Monday November 15, a hurricane watch was issued for all of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The forecast track during that time showed Hurricane Lenny moving across Puerto Rico Wednesday afternoon. At 1100 pm, the watch was upgraded to a warning. By Tuesday afternoon, Lenny was located about 240 miles southwest of Puerto Rico and the first rainbands began to affect the islands. During Tuesday night and most of Wednesday, Lenny continued to move east-northeast south of Puerto Rico. Its closest point from Puerto Rico was about 75 miles south-southeast of Maunabo and Vieques on Wednesday morning. By Wednesday afternoon, Lenny was just 20 miles south of St. Croix. Later that evening it became nearly stationary at about 50 miles east of St. Croix until Thursday afternoon where it began to weaken and move to the northeast away from the local region. By that time, all the watches and warnings for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands had been discontinued. The south coast of Puerto Rico suffered some beach erosion, but its major impact across Puerto Rico was the flooding associated with the rainbands. Some sectors in the east received more than seven inches of rain in a 48 hour period. This caused many roads to become impassable and many rivers to overflow their banks, flooding low lying areas and forcing communities to be evacuated. In addition, landslides, rock slides and mud slides were reported along the interior and west sections. Maximum sustained wind speed at the San Juan airport was 33 mph with gusts up to 39 mph. In Ceiba, the maximum sustained wind speed was 33 mph with gusts to 48 mph. These winds knocked down several power lines leaving 22,000 residents without electricity. Hurricane Lenny's heavy rains caused about 200 farmers in the southeast to lose more than 13 million dollars in production. More than 80% of the vegetables and 50% of the plantains in the region were lost due to rainfall Tuesday and Wednesday.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5720161. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.