Flash Flood — Canovanas, Puerto Rico

2017-09-20 to 2017-09-22 · near Canovanas, Canovanas, Puerto Rico

Event narrative

Very heavy rain resulted in Rio Canovanas out of its banks.

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Maria was a catastrophic category 4 hurricane which devastated the island of Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017. Maximum sustained winds of 175 mph as it was approaching the county warning area. The direction was towards the west northwest with the eye clipping Saint Croix and Vieques. The hurricane then made landfall in the municipality of Yabucoa in mainland PR at 6:15 am AST with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph. The center of the storm traversed diagonally through mainland Puerto Rico exiting across the northwest municipalities in the early afternoon hours. Extreme winds were observed across most of mainland Puerto Rico, Vieques, and Saint Croix with catastrophic flooding observed across many areas in mainland Puerto Rico.

During a preliminary survey of areas along the path of Hurricane Maria's center, it was evident that catastrophic damage had occurred. Maria's strong winds spread large amounts of debris across the entire area. All full trees were defoliated, and those that were not, were snapped or uprooted by Maria's strong winds and lost medium to large branches. During the interview process, stories and images were particularly similar. Numerous locals reported that they felt the ground and their houses shaking, while most were amazed by the force of the unprecedented strong winds that not only transformed their surroundings but also their lives. Although most structures across the island are built using concrete as the main material, countless homes and buildings sustained some type of structural damage. If not blown off, non-concrete roofs suffered some type of damage. Nearly all commercial signs, fences, and canopies were destroyed, including large digital high definition boards. The last time that Puerto Rico experienced a category 4 or stronger hurricane was back on 1928 with Hurricane San Felipe II. Maria was the strongest hurricane to make landfall in mainland Puerto Rico since Hurricane Felipe II in 1928, a category 5 storm.

The NOAA estimate of damage in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands due to Maria is 90 billion dollars.

Death toll from hurricane Maria at the moment of this report is highly uncertain. The official number stands at 65 deaths. 20 of these deaths occurred during the hurricane. The other 45 deaths occurred in the aftermath of the hurricane. From these 45 deaths, there were four (4) people which died due to heart attack, three (3) due to lack of respiratory aid and three more (3) people due to lack of medical supplies. In addition two (2) deaths were due to suicides. One person (1) died when a tree fell over his car while driving. As of late November 2017, there were three (3) confirmed deaths from leptospirosis. One person (1) died during hurricane preparations. One women (1) died when she fell from her wheel chair. Her house was flooded, and she drowned.

The reasons of the remainder of the deaths are unknown at the moment of this publication.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (18.4140, -65.9005)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 722508. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.