Massive flooding in Toronto, 300,000 without power

[Warpy]

Toronto’s subway lines, as well as numerous traffic lights and street lights are out across the city during a massive thunderstorm. Some GO trains are being affected by the outages.

Mayor Rob Ford encouraged people to stay inside their homes where possible, except to check on the vulnerable, elderly, or those who may not be able to cope on their own.

Porter Airlines has cancelled all Toronto flights for the rest of the day because of the storm and power outages at the airport. The airline tweeted that passengers will be accommodated on flights tomorrow, and that high call volumes are causing longer than average wait times at their call centre

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/thunderstorm-knocks-out-power-in-toronto/article13080793/

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[frazzled]

1. Whoa

Hope everyone in Toronto is okay.

But Mayor Rob Ford. Really ... it's hard not to laugh. Stay indoors and smoke crack is probably what he said.

[laundry_queen]

4. Ok, I LOL'ed

It'll be interesting the contrast of Rob Ford against Calgary's Naheed Nenshi (who was amazing).

I have relatives in the big TO. I hope they are ok.

[u4ic]

7. Funny that

Calgary elected a cosmopolitan mayor, Toronto a redneck one.

[laundry_queen]

9. Isn't it though? nt

[bluedigger]

2. Canada is having a pretty crappy summer.

[Bombero1956]

3. The top picture is the 401 iirc

A far cry from what it looked like last May.

[Warpy]

5. I found a picture of a flooded GO train

but the site wouldn't let me gank it and post it.

Grumble.

This is an impressive flood right on the heels of the floods in Alberta.

[u4ic]

8. The pic says the 427 at Burnamthorpe

Which runs in between the 401 and the Queen Elizabeth Way (which turns into the Gardiner Expressway heading for Toronto). The 427 divides Mississauga and Toronto.

[KittyWampus]

6. YIKES! That reminds of lower Manhattan after Sandy.

[laundry_queen]

10. It's the most rain Toronto has had at once since Hurricane Hazel in 1954.

At least that's what CBC was saying. No wonder it's a mess.

[u4ic]

11. Flooding hits the turf of the country's two biggest RWingers

Wow, those are some pretty dramatic pictures. Commuting is hell in Toronto and the burbs to begin with...I hope no one was hurt and the damage minimal.

I grew up there and we used to love those t-storms because it would break the high humidity. However, I've never seen flooding that severe before.

edit: One statistic must be wrong. cbc said 80% of Mississauga was without power, that's far more than 300,000 - never mind Toronto. 80% of Mississauga is around 600,000.

[Warpy]

13. I thought it was probably low, along with the estimate of rainfall

but I didn't write the article.

I posted here because I'm sick of the piss poor coverage by the US corporate media.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

12. 100mm of rain did THAT?

if that is the case, then rain ain't the problem.

sP