Overview
- A line of intense thunderstorms struck the Greater Toronto Area on Wednesday, producing destructive wind gusts, large hail and heavy downpours that dumped as much as about 100 millimetres of rain in some neighbourhoods.
- Peak power outages reached roughly 65,000 customers, Toronto Hydro said it had restored about 90 percent overnight, and several thousand households and businesses remained without electricity into Sept. 4.
- The storm forced major road and transit disruptions including prolonged closures of parts of the Don Valley Parkway and suspended subway service, and it caused structural damage at sites such as Rogers Stadium and a Brampton building that lost its roof.
- Emergency services logged unusually high call volumes — the Toronto Fire Service reported about 1,500 calls — while utility and city crews worked overnight to clear downed trees and lines and teams from the Northern Tornadoes Project began surveys for possible tornado damage with no confirmed tornadoes so far.
- Officials said the event underlines growing climate-driven risks, is driving continued investments in flood protection and stormwater upgrades, and could add to rising insured losses from extreme rainfall events in the region.