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  Heavy Rainfall and Flooding in Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands
   
 

A strong, slow moving tropical disturbance produced very heavy rainfall over Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands over the weekend and the early part of this week.  The area of disturbed weather is moving slowly northward and has acquired sufficient organization to be designated Tropical Storm Kyle.  As of Tuesday afternoon, 6 fatalities had been reported - 4 direct deaths due to drowning and 2 indirect heart attack deaths related to stress induced by flooding.   

The heaviest rainfall occurred over the southern portion of Puerto Rico, where radar estimated as much as 30 inches fell from Saturday through Monday.  Several rain gages accumulated 72-hour totals of over 20 inches from Saturday morning through Monday morning. One gage reported 29.83 inches of rain. Some sites have recorded additional accumulations of more than 2 inches form Tuesday through Wednesday.

The map below shows precipitation across Puerto Rico over the 7-day period ending 8 am AST Thursday.  Most of the rain fell between Saturday morning and Tuesday morning.



This rain has resulted in flooding which in some areas exceeded the 200 year return rate. Many of the rivers and streams on the island rose well above flood stage Sunday night, peaking as high as 10 to 20 feet above flood stage. Flood gates were opened early Monday, allowing river levels to decrease to near or below flood stage at all sites. Several hundred homes have been flooded due to high water, and a number of landslides throughout the island have caused damage to poorly constructed structures.  At least 500 families were affected in Ponce alone, due to landslides and flooding.   

Many roads were closed due to landslides and flood debris, in addition to water inundation. Some bridges across the southeastern portion of the island collapsed.  Over 4,000 customers were without power across the island on Tuesday.  A total of 15 shelters housed nearly 500 hundred people displaced by the flooding. In the municipality of Patillas, 300 people were without communication services. In addition, food and water was delivered by helicopter as some areas were unreachable by land.  At one time, nearly 18,644 people across the island were without water service.

National Guard assisted with rescues and evacuations across the southern and western portion of the island.   

Updated 6:30 a.m., EDT, September 26, 2008

 

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September 26, 2008
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