Strong thunderstorms that ripped through most of southern Ontario have left thousands of people without electricity.
Environment Canada issued a severe thunderstorm warning for parts of the Greater Toronto Area on Sunday night, including Toronto.
According to the weather service, the GTA could experience wind gusts of up to 70 km/h and rainfall ranging from 50 to 75 millimeters.
All alerts ended for the GTA shortly before 11 p.m. following a burst of lightning and intense rainfall.
Hydro One said Sunday evening that some 26,000 customers are currently without power because of the storms.
“Crews are working as quickly and safely as possible to restore power,” the utility said.
As of 11:10 p.m., Toronto Hydro was reporting one large outage, with upwards of 1,000 customers knocked offline in the Mt. Dennis area. Power was expected to be restored by around 2 a.m.
Environment Canada warned that heavy downpours could cause flash floods and water pooling on roads.
“If visibility is reduced while driving, turn on your lights and maintain a safe following distance. Intense lightning is likely with any thunderstorm that develops. Avoid driving through water on roads,” the statement said.
The strong storms follow days of intense heat. A heat warning remains in effect for Toronto and many other areas, with temperatures having approached 40 C for several days.
The stifling heat is expected to taper off tonight, with a cooler high of 23 C expected Monday.
Source_ globalnews.ca
