Flooding at Point Pelee National Park on Monday, April 16, 2018. (Photo courtesy of Point Pelee National Park)Flooding at Point Pelee National Park on Monday, April 16, 2018. (Photo courtesy of Point Pelee National Park)
Windsor

Windsor-Essex Breaks Rainfall Record Sunday

You might have wondered as you watched lakes form in your backyard on Sunday if Windsor-Essex matched the rainfall record.

It did. In fact, the region smashed it when 42.2 mm of rain fell Sunday, beating the old record of 30.7 mm set in 1972.

London received 29.3 mm of rain, far below the record set in 1945 of 38.1 mm. The record for Chatham-Kent is not available.

"Thankfully, most of that is now done and over with," says Environment Canada meteorologist Etienne Gregoire. "Most of the heavy rain has now moved off well to the east, so now what we have to deal with is the remnants of that storm as it pulls away very, very slowly. Grey skies, showers and maybe even flurries."

The forecast calls for a chance of flurries Tuesday.

In the meantime, the Essex Region Conservation Authority refreshed its flood warning for the southern part of the county, in particular, Leamington.

A flood watch was upgraded Monday again for areas west of Point Pelee National Park, and flooding has closed West Shore Rd. on Pelee Island.

Flooding at Point Pelee National Park on Monday, April 16, 2018. (Photo courtesy of Point Pelee National Park) Flooding at Point Pelee National Park on Monday, April 16, 2018. (Photo courtesy of Point Pelee National Park)

Point Pelee National Park in Leamington is closed Monday as officials assess flood damage from the weekend.

It could have been worse.

"It's a little bit further from us, but up around Kitchener-Waterloo we had reports of up to 15 cm of ice pellets accumulating," says Gregoire. "Overall, generally speaking across the southwest we had in the range of 60-70 mm of rain over the weekend as a total... Those are large numbers."

Thousands of people across southern and central Ontario woke up Monday morning without power. Between Hydro One and Toronto Hydro, the number of customers in the dark were over 100,000.

More than 600 flights were cancelled at Toronto's Pearson International Airport.

Widespread flooding was also reported in Metro Detroit as videos circulated on social media Sunday of flooding on major highways, including the I-75.

If you were hoping for some relief from the colder air into warmer, spring temperatures soon, you would still have to wait a few weeks. Gregoire says the region has been struggling to reach even normal temperatures of 12 C or 13 C, and it could be early May before it warms up.

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