Hundreds of thousands of residents are without power in the Greater Toronto Area and streets are flooded with rainwater after severe thunderstorms dumped nearly 100 millimetres of water across the region.

As of late Monday evening, 91 mm of rain fell in the city while rainfall totals measured 106 mm at the suburban Pearson International Airport after the storms blew through. The rain began at 4 p.m. local time, stranding commuters in cars, buses and subway trains as the busy rush hour was getting underway.

Toronto Hydro reported late Monday that approximately 300,000 residents remained without power across the city. The agency advised residents to call 416-542-8000 to report an outage.

Tanya Bruckmueller, public affairs advisor at the agency, said Monday evening it was impossible to guess when power will be restored.

She said extra work crews were on standby ahead of the storm's arrival, and more were being called in.

Flooding fueled by heavy rains has driven hundreds of residents of east-central New York State from their homes in several counties, including Oneida, Chenango, Madison and Herkimer.

Many downtown Oneida streets were inundated on Friday June 28 after the levy along Oneida Creek overflowed, the Oneida Dispatch reported. The water was expected to crest in the early afternoon, said Dave Nicosia of the National Weather Service, speaking to the Dispatch. Oneida creek was at "record levels," he said, up at 16.7 feet, which surpassed the previous record of 15.6 in September 2011.

The Oneida Animal Hospital had to be evacuated as well, and numerous residents were moved to a shelter set up by the Red Cross at the city's armory. In addition severe rainstorms and flooding led the town of Kirkland to declare a state of emergency, the Dispatch reported.

The National Weather Service also warned resident in vulnerable areas along streams and creeks to expect flooding and poor drainage conditions, according to Syracuse.com.

"I haven't seen it this bad since the 1950s," said 71-year-old Joe Salerno to the Dispatch as he watched Oneida Creek overtake his back yard and flow into the cellar of his childhood home, where his son now lives.

A collapsing Calgary rail bridge appears to have "stabilized somewhat," city officials say, but five cars carrying a flammable, diesel-like substance remain stranded and at risk of falling into the Bow River.

Officials now hope to use heavy cables to secure the final five cars, as well as a sixth empty one, and keep them out of the river.

"The last thing we want is these cars running down the river, and causing problems downstream at other bridges or anything else," Acting Fire Chief Ken Uzeloc said Thursday morning, after earlier stressing: "Right now, the public is safe."

Emergency crews evacuated an 800-metre radius of the site after the 3:30 a.m. derailment. The evacuated section includes a section of Deerfoot Trail, a major Calgary thoroughfare. That closure will further leave traffic in near-gridlock in Alberta's biggest city, as flooding closures were already causing extensive delays.

The CP rail train was mostly over the bridge early Thursday morning when its crew noticed it had partially derailed. They called 911.

There were no injuries and no leaks are yet reported, CP spokesman Ed Greenberg said in an e-mail. "The cause is under investigation," he added.

Crews are setting up booms downstream, to catch some of the diesel-like substance if it is ultimately spilled.

The northeast Iowa town of New Hartford was mostly deserted Tuesday after authorities went door-to-door before dawn, warning residents a flooded stream would inundate most of the small community.

"Everybody was notified and told to evacuate," said Butler County emergency management coordinator Mitch Nordmeyer as he surveyed the town, about 90 miles northeast of Des Moines. "If they stayed they were staying at their own risk."
Although most of New Hartford's 500-plus residents heeded warnings and left town, some stayed behind and there was no sense of panic.

Residents had seen the normally placid Beaver Creek flood before. And after some areas upstream received more than 7 inches of rain on Monday, few seemed surprised the stream was surging out of its banks again.

Parts of the Pilbara have been inundated with rainfall overnight that would usually only fall during a cyclone.

The highest rainfall in the region was recorded in Karratha, where 209.2mm of rain has fallen since 9am yesterday.

The rainfall smashed Karratha's daily June record of 60mm.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says a 6 ft wave that hit the east coast earlier this month was a rare tsunami. The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center said the source of the wave is "complex and under review," but they believe it was caused by a strong storm and perhaps even the "the slumping at the continental shelf east of New Jersey."
The weather service says that Brian Coen, who was spear fishing near Barnegat Inlet in New Jersey, saw the effect of the tsunami first hand.

He told the weather service that he noticed an outgoing tide that lasted a couple of minutes and exposed rocks that had been submerged. That was followed by a big six-foot wave.

The Asbury Park Press, which covers the Jersey coast, talked to Paul Whitmore, director of the tsunami center.

He explained the weather system that moved through the area may have changed the air pressure enough to "generate waves that act just like tsunamis." When that happens, the wave is called a "meteotsunami" - in other words a tsunami caused by meteorological conditions, not seismic activity.

When Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi addressed the city on Sunday, he couldn't believe he had to state the obvious, which apparently wasn't obvious enough.

"I can't believe I actually have to say this," said Nenshi, "but I'm going to say it. The river is closed."

Referring to people who were still using the river while the city was in a state of emergency due to flooding, Nenshi said he couldn't let Darwin's law take care of it...or call people what we can only [assume] are names that include swear words.

Catch the hilarious transcript of Nenshi's address below, or watch the video above.

"I can't believe I actually have to say this, but I'm going to say it. The river is closed. You cannot boat on the river. I have a large number of nouns that I can use to describe the people I saw in a canoe on the Bow river today. I am not allowed to use any of them. I can tell you, however, that I have been told that despite the state of local emergency, I'm not allowed to invoke the Darwin law.

If you are on the river we have to rescue you. If we have to rescue you we're taking away valuable resource from others. Everytime we have to pull a rescue boat onto the river, it means there is not a rescue boat in a community that is flooded. It is selfish and it is ridiculous for you to be on the river. So, do not do it. Stay off the river no matter what kind of thrills you're interested in coming for and I won't use any of the nouns that I really want to use."

A violent tornado, as we can see in the photo, made ​​landfall in the early afternoon (just after 3pm) near Termoli on Italy's Adriatic coast, where a storm that had formed inland in the Molise region moved towards the city. The Air Force's own weather station in Termoli measured winds up to 148km/h (92mph). For about 15 minutes violent rain fell along with heavy hail storms. Homes, shops and the train station of Termoli were flooded. The tornado, which lasted about ten minutes, uprooted trees, ripped roofs off houses and downed billboards. Many sea-side resort buildings experienced serious damage as the tornado swept through the area. Firefighters, police patrols, municipal police and traffic police were all called to the area.

Indian officials estimate deaths at around 1000 as they try to reach thousands of pilgrims still stranded.

Soldiers in the north of India were battling against time to reach thousands of stranded pilgrims and tourists before the onset of further rains and landslides.

As officials said the death toll from the "Himalayan tsunami" could be as high as 1000, troops and emergency workers were still trying to reach 50,000 people who remain stranded in the state of Uttarakhand.

It emerged that soldiers had spotted around 1000 pilgrims close to the famous Kedarnath shrine; they have been taking shelter in ravines since the monsoon rains last week. India's home minister Sushilkumar Shinde visited Uttarakhand yesterday.

With warnings from meteorologists that more rains were on their way, he set a three-day deadline to complete the rescue efforts. The authorities appear to be struggling to deliver hard data: reports say that the 10,000 soldiers have so far rescued anywhere between 35,000 and 70,000 people. But there have been reports in the Indian media that thousands of people remain unaccounted for.

Officials said the death toll had reached at least 600 as Uttarakhand's Chief Minister, Vijay Bahuguna, said 560 bodies were buried deep in mud caused by the landslides. At the same time, it was reported that another 40 corpses were found floating in the Ganges, close to the holy town of Haridwar.

But officials fear the final death toll could leap as rescuers reach more and more pilgrim sites that have been inaccessible for a week. "The death toll could be more than 750 - maybe around 1000," Bahuguna said.