Outbound GO train stranded beside the Don River

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Toronto has been overwhelmed by two days of heavy rain in amounts that already exceed the normal rainfall for July. The pile up of water in sewers and rivers has flooded basements, streets, subways, highways and the GO line along the Don River. The Tweeted scene above shows a GO train to Newmarket stuck in water up over the first floor level. Passengers have had to retreat to the second level to stay dry.  As explained by weather analysts, the intense rain has been channeled in a corridor running from Georgian Bay and ending with the City of Toronto.  Passengers on the train have spoken with CP24 to say they are trying to stay positive. Water is said to be waist deep on the first level of the train and some were concerned the train might tip over.  

Washout! Sunday an abrupt, wet and sweaty mess

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Courtesy @midnightpucks81 
There was very little to do but head for cover this July Sunday as heavier than expected rain hit the city about four o’clock. At 6.30 p.m. it was still hammering down on Moore Ave. The rain turned the Queen’s Plate into a muddy contest and pretty much shut down the second day of the Corso Italia event. Gardening was relegated to “next week”. South Bayview was quiet and soggy in the face of an estimated 40 millimetres of rain.  The weather agency issued a special statement at 4:21 p.m. on Sunday advising of “local heavy downpours” that could bring 30 to 40 millimetres of rain to affected areas in less than an hour. The CBC picked off a Tweet pic from “Aaron” of a foreboding Cityscape as the rain came in.  

Too low, 777 crew tried go-around before impact

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The Boeing 777 that crash-landed at San Francisco airport was “significantly below” its target speed near the runway and the pilot tried to abort the landing, US investigators say. The pilot of the Asiana Airlines flight from Seoul requested a “go around” 1.5 seconds before the crash, they say — BBC.Passengers on aboard the Korean 777 jetliner that crash-landed at San Francisco airport yesterday can only regret that it was not making an instrument landing. The Boeing plane is fully capable of finding the runway and executing a feather light touchdown with its ILS (instrument landing system). But quite apparently, that was not the case yesterday as the captain and first officer had control of the plane as it made it’s approach in bright sunny weather. What happened? It is revealing that already the Asiana management has said that the crash was not caused by mechanical error and has not ruled out pilot error. Landing a jetliner after a long flight can be a deceptively dangerous matter. Frequently, the tricky business of being so close to the ground is overlooked by pilots. The flight recorder will tell us, including what the cockpit crew was discussing. Were they paying sufficient attention as they came in by manual control?  Maybe not. Passengers uniformly say the plane seemed too low for the final moments of the approach Horrifyingly undeniable evidence marks the ground where the jet tail smashed into the runway mere feet from the beginning of the pavement. It appears from what some passengers say there was a panic attempt to pull up that went terribly awry. 

Three dead, 40 unaccounted for in train wreck

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The number of dead in the Lac Megantic train wreck is now three, and authorities say as many as 40 others are unaccounted for. It is also said some victims may have “vapourized” in the heat from the huge fire. Police told a Sunday morning news conference there will be more deaths. Uncertainty lies in what they will find when the smoldering wreckage is cool enough for them to take a close look.

“Does this car deserve a ticket? Oh no, no, no”

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It would seem for sure this parking job would earn the cruiser a ticket. The scene is beside the Royal Bank on the corner of Bayview Ave. and Belsize Drive. A parking enforcement officer approaches the police car and glances at it but keeps on going. He checks the car parked in the permit parking at the corner of the lane to see if it has a permit. It does, so he turns back to Bayview and continues his work northward on the west side.  

Completely cricket for TTC Chair to meet the team

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Karen Stintz and John Parker
It seems a good bet that Karen Stintz is a welcome addition to any municipal event. Ms Stintz, Ward 16 member of council and TTC chair, was an unannounced dignitary at the little ceremony to introduce the Toronto contingent to the Cricket Across the Pond competition in the U-K. She joined others who were on the list  So it was that Ms Stintz was photographed with John Parker (Ward 26) and team members as well as some of the paraphernalia of cricket. Mr. Parker was on the list along with business supporters of the team and Tom Mihalik, genial owner of Tom’s Place in Kensington Market.  The scene of the picture is R.W.Burgess Park in Thorncliffe Park, which is inside Mr. Parker’s ward. Politics knows no boundaries apparently and with no disrespect intended to any of the dignitaries we’re guessing that apart from the players none of them knows much about cricket except Mr. Mihalik.  Cricket  Previous post

Town of Lac Megantic reels in onslaught of wreck

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The 6,000 or so people of Lac Megantic in the historic Eastern Townships of Quebec are reeling today. Their small downtown business district is aflame and unknown numbers of their neighbors are unaccounted for after an explosive train wreck that has gripped the attention of the world. One person is confirmed dead. The tanker train carrying thousands of barrels of crude oil went off the tracks and detonated an inferno that is still blazing 12 hour later. As many as 1,000 people are forced out of their their homes in the town, which is about 250 kilometres east of Montreal. Flames and billowing smoke could be seen several hours after the derailment, which involved a 73-car train carrying crude oil. Authorities set up perimeters as firefighters battled to douse the persistent blaze which was still going despite a steady drizzle. Worried residents looked on behind the perimeters amid fears some of their friends and loved ones may have died in bars and in their homes after the derailment, which occurred shortly after 1 a.m. Lac Megantic is a storied corner of Quebec. The town takes it name from the picturesque fresh water lake which  sustained colonial life in the area in previous centuries. 

Jan Wong ordered to repay settlement from Globe

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Jan Wong has been ordered to pay back a financial settlement she received when she was fired from the Globe and Mail. The reason: Ms Wong violated a confidentiality agreement swearing her to silence on the details of her dismissal when she wrote her book Out of the Blue. An arbitrator issued the order for her to re-pay the undisclosed amount of money. In her book Ms Wong called the settlement “a big pile of money.” which she was given to “go away.” The Globe and Mail says the arbitrator Louisa Davie concluded that the settlement between Ms. Wong and The Globe did not allow her to disclose any of its terms, and that this was “clear and unambiguous.” The Globe says the repayment of the settlement funds will be donated to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.  Pictured: Phillip Crawley, publisher of the Globe and Mail and Jan Wong. 

Sunnybrook maintaining a low rate of infection

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This well-researched and written article from the Ottawa Citizen reveals that Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre has among the lowest rates of C difficile infection in the province. In a recent 12 month period the 1212-bed teaching institution registered 89 cases compared to 127 cases at Ottawa General Hospital, a much smaller hospital.  The story makes it clear that the control of the Clostridium difficile infection is treated with great sophistication and determination at all hospitals in the province. The growing body of science has raised speculation that there may even be sources of the infection’s spores in Eastern Ontario that do not exist elsewhere in Ontario.  Ottawa Citizen