Tens of thousands of Toronto residents, mostly in the west end, started the day without power.  As of noon, some 20,000 Toronto Hydro customers, mainly in Etobicoke, were still without electricity because of flooded transmission stations.

A record of 126 millimetres of rain fell at Toronto’s Pearson Airport during the storm. The average amount for all of July is 74 millimetres.  We received that much in one hour between 5 and 6 yesterday afternoon.  At the height of the storm, some streets and highways were under water, stranding motorists.  About 1400 people were caught by the flooding on board a northbound GO Transit train at Bayview and Pottery Road.  It took police and firefighters about seven hours to ferry everyone to dry ground aboard small inflatable boats.

This morning, GO Transit says the storm has left portions of track “completely under water” on its Milton, Richmond Hill and Lakeshore West lines.  Passengers who normally take these trains were asked to look for alternative ways to travel this morning.  As for the TTC, subway service is operating as usual on the Yonge-University-Spadina and Sheppard lines.  But severe flooding means there has been no subway service between Kipling and Jane on the Bloor-Danforth line. .  There were some scary moments for TTC subway riders during the worst of the storm.  Commuters had to walk through the tunnel to safety at St. Andrew’s Station.

At one point during the storm about 300,000 Toronto Hydro customers were in the dark and about 80-percent of Mississauga was without power.  Flooded basements are a big problem in the GTA because of the storm.  Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion advises residents with waterlogged basements to seek help before switching the lights on.

Stay with AM 740/Classical 96.3FM News for comprehensive coverage of Toronto’s record breaking storm.