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The heavy rain has only come in the last four days, particularly in southern and eastern Ontario.
Severe weather meteorologist Bryan Tugwood says short, intense bursts of rain create run-off and flash flooding because the ground can’t absorb the water fast enough.
“I know that talking to the conservation authority here, some of the dams are getting quite high, the reservoirs. There’s not much room for too much more rain. It’s coming fast and furious.”
Tugwood says July brought a near-record rainfall last year, however, and Ontario is below those amounts this month.
This summer, low temperatures have set the record.
“It’s supposedly the coldest July and June since 1992.”
In recent days, much of the action has occurred in Toronto. A weather system that travelled through the city Saturday left 37 mm on Toronto Island in only two hours.
Rain levels varied, with 33 mm falling in the downtown area and only about 14 mm in the north end of the city, Tugwood said.
In west end residential areas along the shore of Lake Ontario, flooding left cars submerged and basements flooded.
Sunday morning another wave of less intense rain swept through, lasting about an hour and leaving an additional 20 mm on the ground.
Tugwood said the waves of energy and occasional showers and thunderstorms would continue. “The potential for more heavy rain is there.”
Radar estimates showed about 50 to 75 mm near Hamilton, Ont., Sunday morning.
Further north, 73 mm fell at the Muskoka airport in Gravenhurst.
West of Thunder Bay toward the Manitoba border was one of the few areas that enjoyed a break from the rain Sunday.
Tugwood said lake breezes form on Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and Lake Huron as well as Georgian Bay, producing cloud lines that develop into thunderstorms.
“The thunderstorms focus on those boundaries, on those lake breezes. That’s where you tend to get the heaviest rain.”
The province will continue to see half-hour spurts of heavy rain in coming days, he said. The forecast includes small hailstones and gusty winds up to 70 km/h, but the biggest impact will likely come from heavy rains.
In the Ottawa area, there’s only a 30 per cent chance of a sprinkling of rain Monday, but another system will bring heavier rain Wednesday.
“These things tend to be most energetic during the daytime because of the daytime heating, and then they get weaker and isolated at night.”