A number of severe thunderstorms swept through the Montreal area Sunday causing power outages and flooding.
According to Environment Canada, as much as 75 millimetres of rain fell on downtown Montreal. The excess water left both motorists and pedestrians stranded on some Montreal streets.
“People were hiding under trees as the water poured down the street,” laughed Jaymes Mackinnon, who said she was caught in the rain on Pine Avenue near Parc as she was moving to another apartment. “Yeah, it was ridiculous. I was drenched to the bone completely!”
Montreal police say there were 58 calls to 911 for flooded streets on the island alone.
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Jasmine Jensen Majid was caught in the rain as she went for supper near Ste-Catherine Street downtown.
“Basically the whole street was taken up,” she told Global News. “It felt like when I was in the Philippines and it was like a flash flood.”
According to Hydro Quebec, more than 33,000 Montreal households lost electricity.
The reason for the storm, explained Jean-Philippe Bégin at Environment and Climate Change Canada, was an unusual weather event.
“We had four-consecutive thunderstorms,” he told Global News. “That’s pretty rare.”
He said, however, that the tempest had nothing to do with tropical storm Isaias currently charging north from the Caribbean.
“Not at all. Not at all,” he said. “In fact, we won’t be affected by the remnants of it until (Tuesday) evening.”
He said the Eastern Townships, Quebec City and areas farther east will feel most of the effects of that, but that Montreal won’t be completely out of the woods.
According to Bégin, even before the city starts seeing the effects of Isaias, another weather system will pass through the area, bringing more rain.
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