Flash Flooding in Toronto Leads to Rescues and Power Outages

Thunderstorms brought torrential rainfall and flash flooding on Tuesday to Toronto, Canada’s largest city, stranding residents, submerging roads and leaving nearly 170,000 customers without power.

More than 100 millimeters — about four inches — of rain fell in parts of Toronto on Tuesday, local officials said. That’s about the average rainfall the city receives in all of July. At Toronto’s Pearson Airport, 97.4 millimeters fell in about 3.5 hours, the airport said on social media.

The Toronto Fire Service said it rescued more than 20 people from cars and buildings, received nearly 1,700 calls for help, and attended to more than 500 incidents between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Tuesday. About 167,000 customers lost power, the City of Toronto said in a statement, and some of the city’s major roads and freeways shut down.

One Toronto resident affected was the rapper Drake, who posted a video on his Instagram Story on Tuesday evening that appeared to show his home flooded with ankle-deep brown water. Drake’s 50,000-square-foot mansion is in Bridle Path, a wealthy neighborhood in North York.

Photos and videos on social media appeared to show cars submerged on gridlocked roads, emergency services workers in boats and water pouring down subway steps.

Olivia Chow, the city’s mayor, said at a news conference on Tuesday that parts of the Toronto City Hall building had flooded. The number of rainstorms days the city experiences is expected to increase significantly in coming years because of climate change, she added.

“We really seriously have to deal with climate change because these kinds of days are going to be a lot more frequent,” she said.