Hurricane Patricia remnants: York Region, GTA under rainfall warning

Richmond Hill GO trains cancelled due to flooded tracks

Yorkregion.com
Oct. 28, 2015
By Lisa Queen

York Region and the Greater Toronto Area are under a rainfall warning and a special weather statement as the remnants of Hurricane Patricia move through the area Wednesday.

Heavy rain will continue until this evening, according to Environment Canada.

As much as 55 millimetres is expected to fall, which could cause pooling of water on roads due to blocked catch basins and storm sewer drains.

“Watch for possible washouts near rivers, creeks and culverts,” Environment Canada said.

GO train commuters who take the Richmond Hill or Barrie lines face a challenging commute tonight, thanks to rainstorm that has flooded tracks along the Richmond Hill rail corridor.

The deluge of water submersed a section of the line from Union Station and as a result, the tracks cannot be used this evening, GO transit announced this afternoon.

The Union Station 15:10, Richmond Hill GO 15:57, and Union Station 18:45 and Richmond Hill GO 19:33 have been cancelled.

The remaining four trains will operate by an alternate route along the Barrie line, serving Langstaff and Richmond Hill.

The trip home will take at least an extra 30 minutes.

The rerouted trains are:

Union Station 16:30 - Richmond Hill GO 17:18, Union Station 17:00 - Richmond Hill GO 17:48, Union Station 17:30 - Richmond Hill GO 18:18, and Union Station 19:40 - Richmond Hill GO 20:28.

Passengers who usually travel to Oriole and Old Cummer may use their GO train tickets on the TCC.

Rain and gusty winds of between 70 to 90 km-h are expected to continue into Thursday, when a cold front will move in.

“The rain and strong winds will end by Friday as the fall storm moves away into Northern Quebec,” Environment Canada said.

Although hydro crews are bracing for the bad weather, the storm doesn’t appear to have caused any significant blackouts or damage so far.

Power was restored after a short outage to 178 customers in Aurora just after 8 a.m. this morning, according to a tweet from PowerStream Inc.

Commuters should check with GO for updates: http://ow.ly/TXWrc.