City struggles to weather storm

Rain takes out roads, transit, power on fifth wettest day in Toronto history _

- OMAR MOSLEH, ANDY TAKAGI AND CALVI LEON

A pedestrian navigates shin-deep floodwaters at Lake Shore Boulevard West and Rees Street on Tuesday as a massive storm caused flooding across the GTA.

After 25 years as a transport driver, Jim McCauley thought he’d seen it all. Thunderstorms, snowstorms, bad drivers. You name it.

But that all changed Tuesday after McCauley found himself stranded on the Don Valley Parkway for hours due to flooding from the Don River.

“It was a little scary at times. My truck started spitting and sputtering when I was going through the deep, deep water.”

A massive storm on Tuesday caused widespread flooding across the GTA, robbed tens of thousands of people of power, submerged vehicles and plunged the city into commuter chaos for much of the day.

The deluge wiped out lanes of traffic, including on the Don Valley Parkway, leaving drivers stranded and in need of rescue as their engines stalled in the wheel-high water.

Meanwhile, major transit hubs were entirely shut down.

“The station is flooded,” one Union Station attendant told commuters on Tuesday. “Unless you want to go down there and ride a submarine.”

There were reports of manhole covers lifting due to the volume of rain, roads resembling rivers and widespread basement flooding.

McCauley said he got out of his vehicle and stood with other stranded drivers, watching as abandoned cars floated by and collided.

“The water, on some cars, was almost up to the roof,” he said. He estimated the levels rose about six inches above the tires on his truck.