A slow-moving tropical depression in early October 1970 centered on October 7, resulted in rainfall over multiple days across Puerto Rico and set the stage for the devastating floods. The focus of the rainfall core shifted from day to day, but some areas experienced copious amounts of rainfall on consecutive days, causing rainfall amounts that could be measured in feet. The highest total over those 6 days was 38.42 inches at Jayuya and 41.68 inches at a station nearby.. Flooding was widespread during the period. One of the hardest hit areas was the densely populated San Juan area. There were reports of bridge washouts, stranded vehicles, flooded homes, electrical outages and road closings due to both flood inundations and landslides. The volume of runoff was a record for Puerto Rico since there were numerous peaks at various times during the flood duration. With the small basin sizes and the typical rains that occur across the region, rivers usually flood within 6 to 12 hours of the heaviest rain. These floods lasted days, creating unique challenges for the affected communities. There were 18 confirmed fatalities, 34 people missing, $65 million (equivalent to more than ½ billion 2021 dollars worth of damage, 10,000 were left homeless, 600 houses destroyed and another 1,000 damaged. The damage to agriculture alone was approximately $8 million with $12 million tallied for road and bridge damage. President Nixon declared the territory a disaster area; the worst in Puerto Rico’s history.
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