Rain, Thunder Expected in Barrie Area From Hurricane Florence

The massive storm covers 24,000 square km, bringing 8 months of rain in 3 days

A giant storm system blowing towards the United States is invoking memories of Hurricane Hazel.

The category two Hurricane Florence is taking a similar path to the 1954 storm, towards North Carolina. The difference being, this storm is expected to track south instead of Hazel’s northbound trajectory. When Hazel hit the GTA in late October of 1954, it claimed 81 lives and did over $137 million in damage

Heavy Rain Next Week

The County of Simcoe’s Emergency Management Department says that Florence recently weakened to a category two storm and took a southward turn, meaning we can expect rain and possible thunderstorms early next week as fallout, but not the torrential rain the region received compliments of Hazel.

24,000 square kilometres

Meanwhile, footage released from NASA, taken from the International Space Station, shows the massive scale of this storm. Hurricane Florence covers approximately 24,000 square kilometres, the eye of the storm is said to be the size of Toronto.


While the Carolinas are said to be receiving increased winds and rain today, the bulk of the storm is expected to hit the area Friday morning.