Spectacular storm hits Mississauga lighting up the sky and flooding roads

Mississauga residents woke up to a spectacular thunder and lightning storm this morning.

The storm lit up the sky and brought heavy rainfall and hail in some areas starting around 6:30 a.m. this morning (April 5).

“Damn!! What a downpour, thunder and lightshow here in #Mississauga ! For a moment, I thought a tornado was hitting us with all that noise,” one person wrote on Twitter.

“Helluva lighting storm in Mississauga right now. maybe it was a sign but as i went into work the building power cycled and the alarm triggered,” another wrote.

Another person reported seeing at least 10 flashes of lightning a minute in the north part of Mississauga.

And others picked up pieces of hail.

@CP24 Pretty impressive thunder / lightning and hail in Mississauga at 6:45am pic.twitter.com/ih9V5BsP5E

— GTASilverFox (@SilverFoxMissON) April 5, 2023

Photographer Faraz Shahid captured some of the lightning over Mississauga City Hall this morning.

Photo by Faraz Shahid

The storm also caused heavy delays on Hwy. 401 as flooding closed lanes near Dixie Road in Mississauga. Two of the eastbound Hwy. 401 collector lanes were blocked. Around 9 a.m. the lanes had reopened.

Environment Canada said 10 to 20 mm of rain was expected this morning with wind gusts between 30 km/h to 50 km/h.

The storm isn’t over yet. As the temperatures soar to 18 C later today, more thunder and lightning is expected, according to Environment Canada.

But after that, a sunny, mild Easter long weekend is forecast.