Toronto coping with extreme heat; power back for most

By News Staff

Power has returned to most pockets of Toronto after an early-morning thunderstorm brought down trees, wires, and even prevented planes from landing at Pearson International Airport.

The area around Jane Street and Sheppard Avenue is back on the grid since going dark around 1 a.m.

The Highway 427 and Eglinton Avenue area was the worst hit and power still remains out in the area. Click here to see a map of the current outages.

At one point, 6,000 customers were without power with the outage now affecting about 700 customers.

In the Toronto Hydro Twitter feed, the acronym ‘ETOR’ stands for estimated time of restoration. There’s no word yet on when the rest of the power will be restored.

On Wednesday, a brief power outage struck the city’s downtown core, affecting 2,300 customers.

Toronto Hydro is asking residents to keep an eye on their electricity use, especially given the sweltering heat. The soaring temperatures have forced customers to turn up the air conditioning and that demand could be having an effect on the power supply.

Toronto is likely in for another day of record-breaking heat. A heat warning issued by Environment Canada on Monday continues for Toronto and southern Ontario, while the City of Toronto’s medical officer of health upgraded its heat warning to an extended (or extreme) heat warning on Thursday.

During an extended heat warning, the city opens its cooling centres. Click here for a list.

There’s a high of 32 C in the forecast, and with the humidex it will feel near 41, 680 NEWS meteorologist Jill Taylor said.

Toronto and the GTA will see a cloudy morning with some showers and a chance of thunderstorms, with much of the storm activity north of Toronto. The afternoon is all sunshine, Taylor said, while the night will be clear with a low near 19 C.

Wednesday’s high of 36 C broke three weather records: It was the hottest July 13 on record, topping the 34.9 C set in 2005; it was the hottest day in Toronto so far this year, beating 34.6 C from June 20; and Pearson International Airport was the hottest spot in the entire country.

Toronto got some relief from the heat overnight but it came at a cost. Thunderstorms caused delays at Pearson and damage around the city. Around 1 a.m. on Thursday, lightning forced all ground crew personnel off the tarmac as a precaution.

Flight delays are also possible on Thursday morning.

Meanwhile, the storm knocked over temporary fencing, garbage bins, and tree branches across the city. A few photos are below:

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