海角社区官网

The Don River looked like it was going to overflow, and debris聽鈥� including a picnic table聽鈥� moved along with the current.

In the distance, there was a mass of stopped traffic in both the south and northbound lanes.

It didn鈥檛 feel like it, but these were the lucky ones, as there were several cars stalled in the floodwaters, requiring stuck passengers to be rescued.

海角社区官网Fire were the first officials on the scene, and began to lash themselves to the guardrail to make sure they wouldn鈥檛 be swept away by the current.

Kathy Stiliadis was on her way to pick up her 92-year-old mother for a doctor鈥檚 appointment and thought the water didn鈥檛 seem that high.

“I saw some flooding but I never expected it to be this bad, because smaller cars were getting through, but the water was coming up so fast,” she said.

Her Mercedes stalled and while she called for help, she said the electronics in her car started acting strangely, and the drivers seat started moving by itself. Luckily it was only about 10-15 minutes before the fire department arrived and rescued her.

鈥淚t was a very scary day, but, I’m happy that our first responders came and before I had a panic attack in that car. Unfortunately, it looks like a writeoff now.鈥�

Firefighters waded from car to car, getting passengers to come out the windows, or open their doors if they could despite the water pressure. Standing on the side of the road, many soaked or carrying wet shoes, they could only look at their submerged vehicles.

Tony Ruivo was in a BMW that had just got on the DVP before it got stuck in the flood.

鈥淐an you believe it? I saw the water and figured it wasn鈥檛 probably too bad but it was. The water hit the electrical and just shut the car off,鈥� said Ruivo. 鈥淲e were probably stuck in there for about 45 minutes before the fire department came and got us.鈥�

Owners of the cars were told they had to wait until the water subsided, and then they would be towed, but even as the sun came out, there was little sign of the water receding.

Firefighters rescued two people from flooding at Bayview Avenue and the DVP. One person was removed from inside their vehicle and another person was found on top of their car’s roof.

They said they also rescued another 12 people from flooding further down the Don Valley Parkway at Gerrard Street.

Deputy Fire Chief Jim Jessop told reporters at city hall that 海角社区官网Fire鈥檚 call volume was triple its normally hourly rate, and the service was rescuing people from cars and elevators.

While calls were coming in for flooded homes and apartment buildings, as well as alarms set off by water trickling into building control panels, he said the agency was prioritizing responses to life-threatening situations.

“There鈥檚 certainly going to be a lag time on response for non-life threatening calls,鈥� he warned. Jessop said that while 海角社区官网Fire was 鈥渆xceedingly busy,鈥� the agency was co-ordinating its response with paramedics, police, and 海角社区官网Emergency Management, and the situation was 鈥渘othing that we can鈥檛 handle. This is something that we train for,鈥� he said.

City manager Paul Johnson said he鈥檇 been receiving regular updates throughout the day, and Toronto鈥檚 office of emergency management was meeting early Tuesday afternoon to perform its latest assessment. He said projections of rainfall had increased significantly from when the city first started monitoring the storm Monday night.

鈥淲e’ve got roads closed. We’ve got trains that are bypassing certain stations. We have a lot of calls for service. I think people just need to be very careful when they’re out there on the roads,鈥� he said. Johnson said severe rain events were occurring more frequently and while the city has been taking steps to mitigate their impact, Toronto鈥檚 infrastructure 鈥渨as not designed to handle this.鈥�

鈥淩ight now, we’re just trying to make sure everybody’s safe, respond to the calls and the emergencies that we have. And then we’ll deal with the aftermath, as soon as the rain stops,” he said.