Water covers the floor at Union Station after heavy rains caused flooding in the subway station in Toronto on Friday, June 1, 2012.Aaron Vincent Elkaim
Subway service around Toronto's Union Station resumed Friday night after an apparent sewer back-up or break sent water into the rail hub and halted service for nearly 11 hours.
It's too early to determine the cause of the flooding at Union Station, but the Toronto Transit Commission cut power to its parts of the station around 12:30 p.m. when water began cascading down stairs and onto the subway platform, briefly trapping some commuters, according to Brad Ross, a spokesman for the TTC. Emergency workers guided the passengers out of the station. No injuries have been reported.
"It's incredible how in a matter of hours how fast these employees and Andy got it cleaned up," said Mayor Rob Ford on CP24 after surveying the water damage at Union Station. "The smell is bad, but not as bad as I thought it would be."
TTC's CEO Andy Byford said crews needed to pump the water out of the station, check all the electrical operations and sanitize the station.
The flooding had also spread to the PATH system, closing the portion of the underground retail concourse south of Wellington Street, Mr. Ross added.
The scene around Union Station Friday during the evening rush hour was chaotic. Toronto police cars with lights flashing shut down the section of Front Street from York to Yonge streets and commuters scrambled to get on the shuttle buses.
With a report from Marcus Gee and Kelly Grant