There are storms that rattle your windows, and then there are storms that stop a city in its tracks.
Last week, Toronto met the latter. What started as an ominous darkening of the sky quickly turned into a chaotic rush hour that none of us will soon forget. This wasn’t just a heavy downpour; officials are calling it a “100-year storm.” I don’t know about you, but I’m hoping it’s at least another 100 years before we see another one like it.
A Deluge Unlike Any Other
The numbers are staggering. In some parts of the city, nearly 140 millimetres of rain fell, accompanied by wind gusts that ripped through the city at up to 130 km/h. For context, that’s more rain than we usually see all September. One moment, people were heading home for the evening; the next, major arteries like the Don Valley Parkway were completely underwater, looking more like rivers than roadways.
Chaos on the Roads and in the Air
The scenes were surreal. As someone who has lived here for a while, seeing the DVP flooded is always shocking. Highways turned into lakes, transit was snarled, and passengers at Pearson airport faced hundreds of delays and cancellations. Even the TTC wasn’t safe; water rushed through bus floors as riders lifted their feet, trying to avoid the mess.
And then there were the stories of close calls. Two construction workers dangling from a suspended scaffold in Yorkville—watching that video made my heart stop. Or the giant black lawn chair that fell from a balcony onto St. Clair Avenue with enough force that, as one witness said, if someone had been driving by, “they would have been killed.” It was pure pandemonium.
The Heroes in the Dark
In the midst of all this, Toronto Fire Services responded to nearly 1,500 calls in a single 24-hour period. That’s the highest call volume we have seen since the ice storm of 2013, and the second-highest on record. They were pulling people from flooded cars, dealing with collapsed scaffolding, and doing everything they could to keep us safe. Chief Jim Jessop noted that while it was chaotic, the very fact we have no reported major injuries or fatalities “shows that the system worked.” Mayor Olivia Chow echoed that sentiment, assuring Torontonians that “the storm has passed” and that crews would work “until every road is clear and every resident has power back.”
Looking at the Damage
The aftermath reveals a city that took a beating. Rogers Stadium, our shiny new 50,000-seat concert venue in Downsview, was left looking like it had been sheared in half. Massive bleachers were torn apart by the wind, leaving a tangled mess of metal and blue seats. The cleanup is just beginning, and it’s going to take time.
We Are Toronto Strong
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you see the power lines down, the trees uprooted, and the flood damage. But the one thing that really struck me during this event was how we came together. We checked on our neighbors. We shared updates. We made it through.
Mother Nature has a way of humbling us, and this storm was a big one. But if there’s one thing I know about this city, it’s that we are resilient. We’ll rebuild, we’ll clean up, and we’ll get ready for whatever comes next. Because in Toronto, we’re all in this together.