BARRIE, ONT. -- A record washout in Barrie has meant days of repairs and recovery at some city beaches and parks.
Sunday's heavy downpour brought roughly 90 mm of rain, breaking the record for the most rainfall the city has seen in one day in more than 25 years.
"That's what you would normally get for an entire August, and we had it in one day," says Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips.
Barrie saw more rain than anywhere else in the province Sunday. While rain was at its most intense that day, it had been a soggy week.
"We had five days in a row of precipitation in the Barrie area, more (rain) in those five days than we had in the whole month of June and July," Phillips says.
Sunday's storm kept some of Barrie's beaches and parks closed Thursday while crews worked to rebuild.
It's no surprise to Phillips.
"With the ground so hard like concrete, that rain that falls so intensely just runs off. It goes right into the rivers and the lakes."
Wilkins was the most damaged of city beaches with crews saying the beach was practically gone. Tyndale Park, Dock Road, and Centennial Beach were also affected.
A swim advisory is posted at Centennial Beach because of high bacteria levels in the water following the storm.
Lake Simcoe and the summer so far have been hotter than usual. Phillips expects that trend to continue for the rest of August.
