[URBAN NOTE] "Toronto grapples with the effects of extreme weather"

[rfmcdonald]

CBC News looks at how climate change will hit an unprepared Toronto.

Canada's largest city isn't immune to the effects of climate change, Toronto government research has found.

In addition to sweltering hot July and August temperatures this year, there are predictions that summer temperatures in Toronto could reach 44 C by 2050, according to Toronto's climate driver study.

"It's startling," David Carlson, director of the World Climate Research Program at the UN's World Meteorological Organization, said of recent NASA data pointing to a leap in global temperatures. "It's definitely a changed planet. ... It makes us nervous about the long-term impact."
Scientists say global warming is also causing more powerful downpours, droughts and rising sea levels.

Extreme weather has also hit Toronto in the form of massive storms. In July 2013 the city saw 126 millimetres of rain dumped in a matter of hours. The storm flooded subways and saw dozens of cars partially submerged in water and abandoned on major roads like the Don Valley Parkway. It also left tens of thousands of people without power.

The storm flooded many homes, including that of Bev Silva, who didn't know her former North York home was on a flood plain when she bought it more than 30 years ago.