CityNews Rewind: The Great Storm Of 2005

Those who were caught out in it and those who watched it from behind a closed window will never forget it.

A torrential rain caused chaos across the city, as lightning, thunder, golf ball sized hail and high winds all converged on the G.T.A. to leave flooding in their wake.

In some areas, the rain fell so hard and so fast, sewers couldn’t contain all the water. Many drivers, heading home in the thick of it, actually had to be rescued from their vehicles after the roads turned into rivers.

Hail poured down on the 404 and Finch area. Lightning strikes scared motorists near Yorkdale Shopping Centre at the 401 and Dufferin. At Bathurst and Steeles, some cars were nearly underwater, as the H20 hammered down without end.

“I don’t think there has ever been a flood like this that I remember,” proclaimed one driver as he stood knee deep in the rain out of his drenched and flooded automobile.

“I’m waiting for my tow truck,” sighed Kevin Fernandez, still dry inside his becalmed car at Kennedy and Highway 7. “It’s going to be here in an hour.”

But drivers weren’t the only ones that were out. So was the hydro in areas all over the city. Some trees also went down during the force of the storm. “I heard a tremendous crack and saw the tree topple over,” recalled bemused homeowner Len Gasparini.

Basements were flooded out across the city and the clean-up costs would mount.

A large section of the D.V.P. was closed by the flood waters.

Some banks had to shut down early when the water entered the buildings.

The Woodbine Centre was closed for the day, after the first floor was flooded out.

All summer exams at Seneca College were cancelled because of water on the campus.

At Pearson International Airport, flights were delayed or cancelled and grounds crews were called inside to wait out the worst of it.

The C.N.E. opened that Friday, and in some rare bad luck, its first day came amid drenching downpours. Officials were forced to hit the midway with bullhorns during the thick of the disturbance telling patrons to take cover quickly.

The city closed the roadway on Steeles near Dufferin for days after flooding weakened the surface.

But the worst hit area was Finch and Sentinel, where a giant sinkhole opened that would take months and millions of dollars to repair.

Hard as it is to believe now, we got off easy. Two twisters were confirmed to have touched down that same day in Ontario, causing extensive damage in Fergus and Stratford.

And when the inusrance claims finally came in, those in the industry were stunned.

“This is one of the top ten insurance claims in Canadian history,” reveals I rene Bianchi of Royal & SunAlliance Insurance. “The estimate was about $400 million in damage across the G.T.A.”

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