Canada – Toronto’s Jewish Community Back to Normal, Bracing for Possibility of More Severe Rains

Canada – Much of Toronto has had power restored after last night’s torrential rains which overwhelmed the area, stranding commuters and motorists and leaving 300,000 customers without electricity. Still, the relief may be short lived as meteorologists warn of potential thunderstorms and lightning that may strike the area both tonight and tomorrow night.

“Things are a little better here,” Mendy Friedman, executive director of Hatzoloh Toronto told VIN News. “Our power came back on at about 2 AM so for now, we put a hold on the generators that Misaskim was sending us although they are standing by as we may be getting another big storm tomorrow night.”

After being caught off guard yesterday, Hatzoloh is preparing for the possibility of further power outages in the next 48 hours.

“Our biggest concern yesterday was people who relied on electricity to power medical equipment but Baruch Hashem that has been taken care of,” explained Friedman. “If another power outage hits we plan on setting up a triage area where we can provide power for people who need medical attention or need to charge their phones.”

With memories of Hurricane Sandy still fresh in his mind, Nathan Krasnovsky of the JCCRP in Far Rockaway contacted Hatzoloh Toronto in order to share his post storm experiences and expertise.

“I felt it was my duty to reach out and see if there is any assistance we can offer as we have been drenched in Sandy Recovery for the last nine months,” explained Krasnovsky.

In the Thornhill section located just north of the city, resident Sandi Winiarz, who had her power restored at 10:30 PM, reported minimal damage to the area.

“Traffic is still a bit of a mess but we are getting back to normal,” said Mrs. Winiarz. “Things were very wet but, thankfully, there was no flooding here.”

“The roads are okay here but there are still some traffic lights not working,” said Miriam Price at the Shaarei Shomayim synagogue in mid-town Toronto, which reported no flooding and no damage to the facility or its sifrei Torah.

At Toronto Kosher, it is business as usual today, with the relatively short power outage doing no damage to the store’s inventory of beef, poultry lamb and prepared foods.

“It was only off for a couple of hours in the area where we are, thank G-d, and today by the store everything is fine,” said employee Elizabeth Jiminez.

According to reports on CTV News, 20,000 Torontonians remain without power, with the bulk of the outages in the west end Greater Toronto area. Most subway service has been restored, although GO Train service in the area is still reported delays. Approximately 1400 people were trapped on a northbound GO Transit train yesterday at Bayview and Pottery Roads and it took police and fire rescue crews almost seven hours to transport everyone to safety on inflatable boats. The evacuated train is still sitting on the tracks as GO Transit officials perform safety and mechanical checks before they attempt to move the partially submerged train. GO Transit is reporting that portions of its tracks remain completely submerged as of this morning.

A record 4.9 inches of rain was reported last night at Pearson International Airport, smashing the current record of 4.7 inches set in 1954 by Hurricane Hazel.