Summer storms in Toronto and the GTA: what to do before and after

This summer is shaping up to be a stormy one across Toronto and the GTA. The Weather Network's seasonal outlook calls it a "changeable and reactive" season, with heat that keeps getting interrupted by rounds of showers and thunderstorms.

Rain you can mostly plan for. Wind is the part that catches people out. A strong gust does its damage in seconds, and around here the first casualty is usually a tree. Toronto and many older GTA neighbourhoods sit under a big, mature canopy, which is one of the best things about them right up until a dead limb comes down on a roof or a hydro line.

Most of what protects your house costs very little and takes an afternoon. The trick is doing it in the right order: some of it before the storm, some right after it passes.

What can you do before the storm?

Look at your trees first 

Walk the yard and look up. Dead or bare limbs over the roof, deck, or driveway are the priority. A branch resting on the wires running to your house is worse. A tree on your property is yours to maintain, and you don't need a permit to prune it, only to remove it. For routine work away from the wires, that can be you or any arborist. The service line running from the pole to your house is a different job. Trimming around it is typically the homeowner's responsibility, but it's work for an arborist qualified near power lines, not a weekend project. Anything sparking, arcing, or touching a line is an emergency. Stay back and call your hydro utility.

Check the roof from the ground

Stand back on the lawn (with binoculars if you have them) and look along the edges and the ridgeline for shingles that are curling, lifting, or missing tabs from a past storm, plus any nail heads popping up through the surface. Wind gets under a lifted edge and peels from there, and once a section opens, the next downpour can go into the attic. A few loose tabs are a cheap fix now. 

Make sure the eavestroughs are attached, not just clear

Give a few brackets a firm tug. Anything that moves, or any run that sags in the middle, needs re-securing with hidden hangers spaced about every 60 cm. A trough that tears loose in a gust usually takes a strip of fascia with it, which turns a cheap fix into a rotted board and a gap for water and squirrels.

Prepare for a potential outage

Add surge protection at the panel, not just power bars on a few outlets. It’s an easy job for a licensed electrician to install a whole-home unit, and it protects anything with a circuit board: the furnace, the AC, the fridge, the modem. If a sump pump keeps your basement dry, put a battery backup on it and confirm the battery still holds a charge, because the storm that cuts your power is often the same one filling the pit. Keep flashlights and a charged power bank where you can find them in the dark.

What can you do after the storm?

Stay away from any downed line

Assume a downed wire is live and that the ground around it is energized. Stay back 10 metres, about the length of a school bus, and call 911, then your local electricity utility. In Toronto that's Toronto Hydro at 416-542-8000. If you're not sure who serves your address, the IESO's Find Your Local Distribution Company tool will tell you. Never try to move a branch off a wire yourself.

Walk the property and look up again

The danger after a storm is often the limb that cracked but didn't fall, hung up in the canopy waiting for the next gust. Look for fresh splits, limbs leaning on the house or the wires, and large branches caught overhead. Anything near the lines or over the roof is worth calling an arborist for. 

Be careful who you hire in the rush

A storm brings crews knocking door to door, and not all of them are what they seem. Jason Francis of Amazing Tree Service puts it plainly: "After a storm, door knockers can be legit, but that's also when a lot of the worst operators show up, because urgency makes people skip normal checks. The key is slowing the conversation down enough to separate 'helpful professional' from 'we're just here because there's work everywhere.'" So slow it down. Ask whether they're a certified arborist and properly insured, get the quote in writing, and don't pay cash on the spot to someone you can't look up afterward.

Re-check the roof

Scan for shingles that lifted, tore, or went missing, and for debris sitting where it shouldn't. If you think water got into the attic, deal with it quickly. Wet insulation and drywall get expensive the longer they sit.

Check the eavestroughs

Look for runs that came loose, sagged, or pulled away from the fascia. Drain and re-hang anything hanging before the next storm adds to the load.

Check the power and the pump

When the power comes back, watch for anything that won't restart or behaves oddly, since the surge on reconnection is what tends to kill electronics. Confirm the sump pump actually ran during the outage and the pit is dry.

Storms rarely invent a problem. They find the one that was already there: the dead limb, the loose run of eavestrough, the thing you'd been meaning to get to. You can't stop the wind. You can give it less to take.