Afternoon storm causes flash floods in Windsor

An intense storm swept through Windsor, N.S., Tuesday, bringing heavy rain and hail that flooded some of the streets downtown.

Wind and rain moved into the area after lunchtime.

"We had torrential rain and hail, I thought it was going to break the windshield," said Tracey Davis, a driver and dispatcher with Donnie's Taxi Limited.

With so much water on the roads, Davis had difficulty figuring out where the curb was at times.

"Sometimes you had to stop because you couldn't see, your windshield wipers wouldn't go fast enough," she said. "The water was coming up through the grates of the sewers and there were no sidewalks to be found, it was all under water."

Customers out dining on the patio of the Spitfire Arms pub had to race inside.

"Dark clouds were coming over and we heard some thunder in the background and before we knew it the wind picked up and there was hail the size of golf balls," said Sara Jean MacDonald, the general manager.

With water coming over the patio, MacDonald said customers waited out the storm inside for about an hour.

The Sobeys on Empire Lane was temporarily closed due to flooding around 2 p.m. The store shut off the power for safety, although a spokesperson said there was no structural damage and there were no injuries.