Toronto Goes Down

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A severe storm has left many of Toronto's streets flooded, including the Don Valley Parkway, and about 105,000 customers without power, according to Toronto Hydro.

Crews are working on the outages but do not have an estimated restoration time, Toronto Hydro said. Residents are asked to avoid downed wires and call 911 if they see any.

At its peak Tuesday afternoon, 167,000 customers were without power, Toronto Hydro said.

Environment Canada issued a rainfall warning for the city on Tuesday morning with a risk of thunderstorms continuing in the afternoon and evening. The warning was no longer in effect by the early afternoon, however there are still a number of major traffic and transit disruptions to be aware of.

No significant rainfall is expected for the rest of Tuesday, the City of Toronto said in a news release Tuesday afternoon.

The city said it received more than 700 calls to 311 about basement flooding.

Photojournalists across Toronto captured dramatic images of rescues and swamped cars as the city came to a standstill in flood-prone area

'Storm on top of storm' dumped rain
David Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said the system that brought the rainfall was "unique" from a meteorological perspective.

It was actually a series of separate storms that consecutively drenched the GTA, but particularly the city of Toronto, Phillips said.

"There was a line of storms from London to the west part of Toronto that lined up like a parade, like jumbo jets on the airport tarmac. And there was storm on top of storm coming in one after the other, dropping their load of precipitation," he told CBC News Network.