Hot, humid and smokey weather expected this week in Montreal, with more thunderstorms possible.
Heat Warning in effect for Montreal.
Round after round of heavy thunderstorms Sunday afternoon dumped between 50-100mm of rain on the city creating widespread flash flooding once again. This is the third time in a year that Montrealers have had to deal with rising flood waters.
Sunday's flooding was courtesy of a warm, humid and unstable air mass that had been in place for several days. Introduce a frontal boundary from Ontario tapping into deep Gulf of Mexico moisture and you have the ingredients for slow moving, very wet thunderstorms.
On Ile Perrot, between 2-4pm, I measured 55mm of rain. On the West Island and at Trudeau Airport, 81.7mm fell, a record for the date, surpassing the 38.6mm that fell in 2023. Some parts of north end Montreal had as much as 110mm.
The heavy rain overwhelmed the sewers once again in Montreal, flooding major highways, surface streets and scores of businesses and home from Lachine to Saint-Léonard to Kirkland and everywhere in between.
Sections of Highways 13-15-20 and 40, along with ramps and several underpasses had to be closed for varying amounts of time so vehicles could be removed and flood waters cleared.
Insurance adjusters will be out again surveying the damaged to homes as many basements flooded across the Island.
Over 35,000 Hydro-Quebec customers loss power as lines were impacted by falling tree limbs and intense lightning strikes. The storms had far-reaching effects, from south of Montreal in the Monteregie where power poles were snapped like toothpicks, to Mirabel and parts of the Laurentians where flooding was reported.
The storms come close to the July 14, 1987 anniversary of the Decarie flood. That storm officially dumped only 57.4mm of rain at Trudeau Airport, but amounts as high as 100 mm were reported in less than 1 hour in other parts of the city.
History keeps repeating it seems in Montreal. July 14 marks the 38th anniversary of the great Decarie Expressway flood. |
The weather will remain very warm and humid this week, with unfortunately another risk of strong thunderstorms by Thursday. The air will also become quite unhealthy, as smoke from the western Canadian wildfires drifts into Ontario and southern Quebec.
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