A Catalogue of Tropical Cyclone Induced Instantaneous Peak Flows Recorded in Puerto Rico and a Comparison with the World’s Maxima

Abstract

Peak streamflow rates from the Insular Caribbean have received limited attention in worldwide catalogues in spite of their potential for exceptionality given many of the islands’ steep topographic relief and proneness to high rainfall rates associated with tropical cyclones. This study compiled 1922 area-normalized peak streamflow rates recorded during tropical cyclones in Puerto Rico from 1899 to 2020. The results show that the highest peak flow values recorded on the island were within the range of the world’s maxima for watersheds with drainage areas from 10 to 619 km2. Although higher tropical cyclone rainfall and streamflow rates were observed on average for the central–eastern half of Puerto Rico, the highest of all cyclone-related peaks occurred throughout the entire island and were caused by tropical depressions, tropical storms, or hurricanes. Improving our understanding of instantaneous peak flow rates in Puerto Rico and other islands of the Caribbean is locally important due to their significance in terms of flooding extent and its associated impacts, but also because these could serve as indicators of the implications of a changing climate on tropical cyclone intensity and the associated hydrologic response.

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“…As a tropical island, it receives high precipitation, especially in the northern and central parts of the island, where rainfall ranges between 3000 and 4300 mm per year [34]. Extreme precipitation events in Puerto Rico have received much attention [35]- [39]. In terms of water levels and flooding, the Loíza River is the largest river on the island of Puerto Rico, and it is located in east-central Puerto Rico, where it flows from south to north into the Atlantic Ocean a few miles east of San Juan for a total length of about 64 km [40].…”

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“…The paper "A Catalogue of Tropical Cyclone Induced Instantaneous Peak Flows Recorded in Puerto Rico and a Comparison with the World's Maxima" [8], by Carlos Ramos-Scharrón, Caroline Garnett, and Eugenio Arima, compiles 1922 area-normalized peak streamflow rates recorded during tropical cyclones in Puerto Rico from 1899 to 2020. The peak flows reflect how a changing climate impacts tropical cyclone intensity and the associated hydrologic response.…”

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“…These impacts include increased dry periods, lower productivity in food and products, decreased local biodiversity, and an overall rise in sea levels, which can affect the livability of low-elevation coastal regions (Fordham and Brook 2010;Singh and Bainsla 2015). Puerto Rico is uniquely vulnerable even among tropical islands, due to its low-lying geography, hydrological landscape, and small size (Ramos-Scharrón et al 2021). The impacts of climate change are also found to increase the intensity of tropical storms in the region based on observations (e.g., Kang and Elsner 2015;Bhatia et al 2019).…”