Post by sky on Jul 10, 2013 16:59:47 GMT 12
Record-smashing rains knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of residents across the Toronto area, shutting down subways, forcing some people to cling to trees and leaving about 1,400 passengers stranded for hours on a commuter train filled with gushing water.
Mississauga, a city of more than 700,000, saw some of the worst of the blackouts with 80 per cent of the community plunged into the dark, according to power distributor Enersource.
Trounces previous one-day rainfall record
Environment Canada said some parts of the Greater Toronto Area had been drenched with more than 100 millimetres (4 inches) of rain, trouncing the previous one-day rainfall record of 29.2 mm in 2008 for Toronto. It even beat the 74.4 mm monthly average for July.
“We had 90 millimetres of rain within an hour and a half at the airport,” said Peter Kimbell, a meteorologist at Environment Canada, who said the storm ranked among the most intense rainfalls the city has ever seen.
To put it in perspective, the wettest day in Toronto was Oct. 15, 1954, when Hurricane Hazel slammed the city and 121.4 millimetres of rainfall was recorded over the entire day.
Toronto’s downtown core was dotted with abandoned vehicles, some sitting in water up to their windows.
All of Toronto’s subway service was temporarily halted due to power and signal issues. Some stations were also flooded.
One rush-hour train became stranded in floodwaters up to the lower windows. The murky brown water spilled through the bottom floor of the carriages as riders scrambled to upper sections of the train.
“There’s a full-on river on either side of us… We. Are. Stuck. Hard,” passenger Jonah Cait quipped on Twitter.
Ontario’s regional public transit service said early Tuesday that the storm had left portions of track “completely under water” on several lines.
Hydro system “hanging on by a thread”
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford applauded officials for a “satisfactory” response to one of the worst storm’s in the city’s history, but pleaded with citizens Tuesday to conserve power because the hydro system is “hanging on by a thread right now.” Ford called the rain “unprecedented”.
It’s official. Yesterday’s rainfall was “epic,” says The Star.
Not because of climate change
And no, experts say, it wasn’t because of climate change.
See photos:
beforeitsnews.com/weather/2013/07/toronto-canada-now-underwater-2441130.html?utm_medium=verticalresponse&utm_term=http%3A%2F%2Fb4in.info%2FfAtw&utm_campaign=&utm_content=beforeit39snews-verticalresponse&utm_source=direct-b4in.info
www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/severe-thunderstorms-wreak-havok-with-southern-ontario-as-heavy-rain-cuts-power-214679241.html
ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/live-flash-flooding-greater-toronto-area-23055609 1.html
local.msn.com/toronto-storm-causes-chaos-throughout-the-city
news.nationalpost.com/2013/07/08/heavy-rain-batters-toronto-darkens-skies-in-sudden-storm/
www.thestar.com/news/gta/torontosummerstorm/2013/07/09/mondays_storm_was_officially_epic.html
Thanks to William Sellers, Sonya Porter, Dean Koehler, Igor and Laurel for these links
Mississauga, a city of more than 700,000, saw some of the worst of the blackouts with 80 per cent of the community plunged into the dark, according to power distributor Enersource.
Trounces previous one-day rainfall record
Environment Canada said some parts of the Greater Toronto Area had been drenched with more than 100 millimetres (4 inches) of rain, trouncing the previous one-day rainfall record of 29.2 mm in 2008 for Toronto. It even beat the 74.4 mm monthly average for July.
“We had 90 millimetres of rain within an hour and a half at the airport,” said Peter Kimbell, a meteorologist at Environment Canada, who said the storm ranked among the most intense rainfalls the city has ever seen.
To put it in perspective, the wettest day in Toronto was Oct. 15, 1954, when Hurricane Hazel slammed the city and 121.4 millimetres of rainfall was recorded over the entire day.
Toronto’s downtown core was dotted with abandoned vehicles, some sitting in water up to their windows.
All of Toronto’s subway service was temporarily halted due to power and signal issues. Some stations were also flooded.
One rush-hour train became stranded in floodwaters up to the lower windows. The murky brown water spilled through the bottom floor of the carriages as riders scrambled to upper sections of the train.
“There’s a full-on river on either side of us… We. Are. Stuck. Hard,” passenger Jonah Cait quipped on Twitter.
Ontario’s regional public transit service said early Tuesday that the storm had left portions of track “completely under water” on several lines.
Hydro system “hanging on by a thread”
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford applauded officials for a “satisfactory” response to one of the worst storm’s in the city’s history, but pleaded with citizens Tuesday to conserve power because the hydro system is “hanging on by a thread right now.” Ford called the rain “unprecedented”.
It’s official. Yesterday’s rainfall was “epic,” says The Star.
Not because of climate change
And no, experts say, it wasn’t because of climate change.
See photos:
beforeitsnews.com/weather/2013/07/toronto-canada-now-underwater-2441130.html?utm_medium=verticalresponse&utm_term=http%3A%2F%2Fb4in.info%2FfAtw&utm_campaign=&utm_content=beforeit39snews-verticalresponse&utm_source=direct-b4in.info
www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/severe-thunderstorms-wreak-havok-with-southern-ontario-as-heavy-rain-cuts-power-214679241.html
ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/live-flash-flooding-greater-toronto-area-23055609 1.html
local.msn.com/toronto-storm-causes-chaos-throughout-the-city
news.nationalpost.com/2013/07/08/heavy-rain-batters-toronto-darkens-skies-in-sudden-storm/
www.thestar.com/news/gta/torontosummerstorm/2013/07/09/mondays_storm_was_officially_epic.html
Thanks to William Sellers, Sonya Porter, Dean Koehler, Igor and Laurel for these links