Massive power outages across Toronto after summer storm that flooded highways and subway stations

A record-setting downpour in Toronto on Tuesday caused flooding that submerged highways and streets, knocked out power to large swaths of the city, flooded subway stations and damaged homes.

The storm dumped 98 millimetres of rain in just a few hours and was the fifth-rainiest day in Toronto’s recorded history, according to Environment Canada. The flooding brought back memories of the city’s wettest day in 2013, when an intense thunderstorm caused one of Canada’s most expensive natural disasters.

Rainwater poured into Union Station, the city’s main rail hub downtown that serves the local subway as well as Via Rail passenger service and GO Transit commuter trains, all of which had service disrupted.

Nearly 170,000 customers were without power at the height of the outages, according to Toronto Hydro, while social-media users documented their flooded streets and basements.

Torontonians share scenes from massive summer storm that flooded DVP, Union Station

Parts of the Don Valley Parkway, which snakes through a river valley from downtown Toronto to Highway 401 in the city’s north end, were shut down in the early afternoon. The Toronto Police Service said on X shortly before 1 p.m. that a portion of the southbound parkway, also known as the DVP, between Bayview Avenue and the Gardiner Expressway, was fully closed.

Toronto’s fire department said crews rescued 14 people from the highway flooding as stranded motorists were forced to wait hours before they could be redirected north.

People began playing volleyball in the middle of the closed northbound lanes to pass time while they waited.

Kathy Stiliadis, who was stuck on the DVP, said she was en route to pick up her 92-year-old mother for a doctor’s appointment when her Mercedes-Benz B 250 was submerged to the windows.

“I saw there was some water but I didn’t think it would pose that significant of a risk,” she said. “As I progressed, the water was halfway up my wheel. Then, my car stalled.”

As the water level increased, Ms. Stiliadis frantically began making calls for help, she said, which is when someone else on the highway called 911 on her behalf.

During that time, she said her car was practically floating and waves formed by other cars driving by were moving her car. At one point, she said her car was inches away from colliding with another vehicle.

“It was crazy. It’s nothing I’ve ever experienced before,” she said. “For this to be happening in Toronto is bizarre.”

She was rescued by emergency services after being stuck for what seemed like 20 minutes, she said.

Videos on social media show water pooling on the floor of a main concourse at Union Station. Parts of the underground PATH network, which has retail and restaurants and connects to Union, were also closed because of flooding.

Subway trains were not stopping at Union and bypassing other stations because of power outages, Toronto Transit Commission spokesperson Adrian Grundy said. Several transit buses and streetcars were also making detours on their regular routes across the city because of localized flooding and there were other delays owing to traffic congestion, the agency said.

GO Transit, which operates regional trains and buses across the Greater Toronto Area, reported several cancellations.

Toronto Hydro reported 167,000 customers without power by midday on Tuesday, which was reduced to 109,000 by early evening.

An outage map on the Toronto Hydro website showed power down in several areas of the city, including Parkdale, East York and Liberty Village. As power was restored, most of the remaining outages were on the west side of the city.

Daniel McNeil, spokesperson for Toronto Hydro, said the power utility was responding to the scattered outages, which were believed to have been caused by flooding at a Hydro One transmission station.

“We are working closely with Hydro One to resolve the issue and restore power as quickly and safely as possible,” Mr. McNeil said.

Ian Sandler, who lives near Bathurst Street and Eglinton Avenue, said a portion of the basement in his house was flooded Tuesday morning. His power went out around noon.

“These extended power outages are becoming more frequent,” he said. “We’ve had some pretty extended power outages in our area for several hours in the past.”

Mr. Sandler blamed the power outages and instances of flash flooding in recent years on a combination of climate change and poor infrastructure.

Environment Canada had issued a rainfall warning for Toronto on Tuesday morning ahead of the storm, predicting that it could dump up to 125 millimetres of rain by the afternoon.

Trudy Kidd, a warning preparedness meteorologist at Environment Canada, said Tuesday’s rain broke records. A weather station at Toronto Pearson International Airport recorded 98 mm of rain, beating the previous record for July 16 of 29.5 mm set in 1941.

Mayor Olivia Chow said Toronto was working to deal with the fallout from the massive downpour, noting that emergency services had not been affected.

Long-term work is needed to deal with such weather events in the future, she said.

“We really seriously have to deal with climate change because these kinds of days are going to be a lot more frequent,” she told reporters, adding that there would be a review of preventative measures for flooding in light of Tuesday’s storm.

In Peel Region, west of Toronto, Mississauga Fire said a creek beside a nursing home had overflowed, causing extensive flooding. Fire crews and paramedics were on scene to help patients.

Even Canadian rap star Drake was dealing with flooding. The musician, who owns a mansion in Toronto’s Bridle Path neighbourhood, posted a video on Instagram that showed water pouring into a room with the caption: “This better be Espresso Martini.”

With a report from The Canadian Press