Drivers forced to wade cars through flooded Toronto street

The images may not be as dramatic as those that emerged (er, submerged?) after the 2013 flood, but one Toronto street has a flooding problem.

For the last week Lower Simcoe street has been flooded, forcing drivers to wade their cars through a small lake of water to get to the other side.

A post shared by Emmerich (@romeoalphadelta) on Apr 23, 2017 at 7:37pm PDT

The city closed one of the lanes and put up hazard markers to warn drivers but they left one lane open to pass through what is a major commuter route between downtown Toronto and the Gardiner Expressway.

Lower Simcoe in the a.m/evening. Slow traffic/then no traffic. pic.twitter.com/schNavEdgb

— Peter Leo (@cbcpeterleo) April 24, 2017

Tonight a big chunk of the street just closed so that the city could try to better address the situation. According to Toronto Water, they plan to install additional sewer piping to help alleviate the current flooding issues.

One lane should be open in each direction by rush hour tomorrow evening.

Well this explains the traffic jam on Lower Simcoe. #Toronto #Traffic pic.twitter.com/wwNaQ3OQtp

— Dawn Calleja (@dawncalleja) April 24, 2017

As CBC reports, this part of the street was built to withstand Lake Ontario's five-year average water levels in 2006.

A post shared by Jessica Korody (@korodyj) on Apr 24, 2017 at 9:20am PDT

Since the street opened in 2009, water levels have gone up substantially. The surrounding area has also seen a lot of development, which exacerbates the problem.

According to CBC, the city's been manually pumping out water on Lower Simcoe for the past two weeks.

Pumping underway to get rid of #spring water at lower simcoe #Toronto #stormwater pic.twitter.com/XhGEMZZOkI

— Jennifer Drake (@StormWater_TO) April 24, 2017

When Lower Simcoe flooded last year (it flooded at least five times between 2010 and 2013 too), Mayor John Tory announced the city would address the issue. Now, it's apparently looking into building a pumping station at the underpass.

The nearby HTO Park has also seen some minor flooding over the past few days. And two weeks ago on the other side of the city Ashbridges Bay Beach was flooded after a storm.