CNN
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Canadian rapper Drake shared a video on Tuesday of himself walking through his apparently flooded Toronto home after the city was hit by torrential rains, causing widespread flooding and power outages.
“This must be an espresso martini,” Drake joked on Instagram, alongside a video of murky brown water flowing into his room at his home, known as “The Embassy,” in Toronto’s upscale Bridle Path neighborhood.
Canada’s largest city, Toronto, saw more rain than the average for July fall in a four-hour period on Tuesday, flooding city roads, closing highways and subway stations and leaving tens of thousands of people without power.
More than 97 millimeters (about 3.82 inches) of rain was recorded at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, the airport told X on Tuesday afternoon, making it the fifth-wettest day on record. Tuesday also broke the airport’s rainfall record, which was set on July 16 in 1941, when 25.9 millimeters (1 inch) fell at the airport, the report reported.
Richard Lautens/Toronto Star/Getty Images
On July 16, 2024, heavy rain hit Toronto, leaving drivers stranded.
Record-breaking storms have wreaked havoc in parts of the Caribbean and North America this summer. Hurricane Beryl, the fastest Category 5 hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic, caused widespread damage in Grenada and Jamaica this month, killing at least nine people, before bringing flooding, rain and strong winds to Texas.
Beryl knocked out power to more than 2.5 million homes in Texas and Louisiana and killed at least eight people.
In a statement posted to X, the Toronto Fire Department said it responded to approximately 1,700 calls and responded to approximately 500 incidents between 6 a.m. ET and 3 p.m. ET on Tuesday, including more than 50 elevator rescues and more than 20 people who needed to be rescued from cars and buildings due to heavy rain.
The storm caused 167,000 Toronto Hydro customers to temporarily lose power, according to a city update.
Photos showed cars floating on the highway on the city’s east side, and leaks were seen in the ceiling of City Hall, according to the Toronto Star, while a pedestrian tunnel connecting air travelers to the city’s Billy Bishop Airport, which is on an island, was flooded, the airport said on Sunday.
Andrew Francis Wallace/Toronto Star/Getty Images
A pedestrian dodges water spray from a passing car in downtown Toronto on July 16, 2024.
Scientists have long warned that extreme weather events affecting countries around the world are becoming more frequent as the climate crisis accelerates.
“We have to get really serious about addressing climate change because days like this are going to become more common,” Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said at a news conference.
Chow added that Toronto’s aging infrastructure makes it more vulnerable to flooding.
