Just yesterday, the Toronto area was the victim of a very heavy rainstorm causing flooding in several areas. I swear, in that day alone, we probably received more rain than all of summer that has since passed.

Anyway, yesterday, I was meeting with Darlene whom I haven’t seen since her birthday. It was great to see her because we share a lot of personality traits. We both identify heavily with the classic Scorpio mentality. When we first met each other, we instantly developed a good rapport and became good friends.

I decided to meet her at Fairview Mall. After some wandering around, we ended up at a French bakery for some food. The food was good; the company was better. After eating, we were back to wandering around. As we were walking, we could hear the sounds of thunder happening outside. I guess it didn’t really occur to me just how heavy the rain was falling outside. I didn’t have a clue. We sat down on a bench to talk about other stuff when loud beeps were suddenly heard over the public announcement system. It was followed by a female voice announcing to everyone that people should remain calm as they investigated the cause of the alarm.

We got up and started walking around. As we passed by TD Bank, we noticed a waterfall. We thought, man, that’s preatty neat. However, we quickly realized that it wasn’t a controlled water fall at all. On the contrary, it was actually rain water leaking from the vents. We went in for a closer look, and all the employees were just as dumbfounded by it all. Darlene and I continued walking around surveying what was going on. Roots and SportChek had the same problem with water falling from the vents. It was crazy. Soon, the female voice on the overhead PA announced that all customers were to evacuate the building immediately. The Exodus was on.

Employees were barricading the food court with benches. Customers were huddled by the entrances, reluctant to leave in the storm. As we looked outside, the rain was falling in insanely large amounts. You could hardly see a few feet in front of you. We headed for Sears because that’s where I was parked. As we passed the view to the lower level, we noticed that the lower level was suddenly flooded with water that was ankle deep. It was madness, I tell you. I wondered about the possibility of electrocution. It was certainly possible. People with camera phones were taking pictures. Darlene and I were cursing our lack of cameras.

We got into the vehicle and headed out. The roads out of the mall were packed with people leaving. People were impatient to get out, despite the heavy rain making driving a bit more treacherous. I was honked at at least once for not making a turn. What? Am I supposed to turn in front of a moving vehicle? Hell no. Darlene borrowed my cell phone and called up 680 News. Describing our situation. They recorded her for an interview. Man, she was excited. She thought that she’d be on the radio. We tuned in for a good while…and nothing. Damn them.

The roads were heavy with traffic. Darlene’s place was a few major roads over, but it still took us an hour to get there. We tried taking the side streets. A lot of the roadways were flooded. There was no way to pass. I surely wasn’t going to risk going through and having my engine stalled. The main roads were totally stuck. Every few minutes we’d actually make a tiny bit of progress, but it was all just really slow.

After dropping her off, I got lost on my way out. I ended up on one of the main roads and attempted to head back home. Many of the stoplights were out. They turned into four-way stops where everyone was desperate to get through. It was all very tense in a lot of spots. In the end, it took me a good 2.5 hours to get back home. That’s ridiculous. On an otherwise good day, it would take 20-30 minutes.

Anyway, I’m glad it’s over and that all the plants got nicely watered. Still, I don’t want to be acting like Noah again any time soon.