It’s raining…tractors…or husbands

Good gosh, it’s been wet. Most likely in your soggy town and in many places across Canada – this included recent severe flooding in Alberta.

This past Monday it was residents of Toronto who were left asking “What the heck?!?!” as the skies poured out a record-setting deluge. Everyone knew there might be a thunderstorm that afternoon, but the severity of that storm was quite unexpected.

Global News Toronto reports these sobering numbers:

At the peak of Monday’s unprecedented rainfall, 110 mm of rain fell per hour. Approximately 126 mm of rain fell at Toronto’s Pearson Airport in total, breaking the previous record of 121 mm that was set during Hurricane Hazel in 1954.

110mm of rain is equal to 4.3 inches. Per hour. Pearson Airport’s grand total of rain for that afternoon storm was 126 mm,  just under 5 inches (4.96 inches), an amount that reportedly exceeds Toronto’s average amount of rain for the entire month of July.

Here’s video from CBC of Toronto manhole covers blasting up as streets flood . Go Transit trains were stranded. The aforementioned article  from Global News includes a grey-scape of time-lapse still shot of the front engulfing the city with rain.

New England Cable news reports parts of Vermont just saw something similar: 4.5 inches of rain in just 90 minutes. Much of Northern Vermont and the Adirondacks are under flash flood warnings for Wednesday.

Language bonus: here’s how to say “it’s raining cats and dogs” in other languages.

Apparently some Slovaks say “Padajú traktory” (“it’s raining tractors”).

Swedes might say ‘It’s raining ladies” but Spanish have a saying “it’s raining husbands.” Go figure.

Afrikaaners might say:

Ou vrouens met knopkieries reen
it’s raining old women with knobkerries (clubs)

What’s coming down at your house?

Tags: canada, environment, flooding, rainfall records, Toronto, weather