Toronto, July 9: A severe thunderstorm caused flash flooding in Toronto, cutting power to at least 300,000 in Canada's largest city, shutting down subways, and leaving about 1,400 passengers stranded for hours on a commuter train filled with gushing water.

Environment Canada said some parts of the city had been drenched with more than 3.9 inches (10 centimetres) of rain in the Monday evening storm, easily beating the previous one-day rainfall record of 1.4 inches (3.6 centimetres) in 2008.

Toronto police and firefighters used small inflatable boats to rescue commuters from a 10-car, double-decker train that stalled in floodwaters that reached up to the lower windows. Murky brown water spilled through the bottom floor of the carriages, sending passengers fleeing to the upper decks. rolinx spokeswoman said power was shut off and the windows were cranked opened to provide ventilation. The train was carrying about 1,400 passengers during the Monday evening rush hour.

"There's a full-on river on either side of us... We. Are. Stuck. Hard," passenger Jonah Cait wrote on Twitter.

Another passenger told the TV news network CP24 that she could see people clinging to trees after abandoning their cars on a flooded highway alongside the tracks.

Police and firefighters used the inflatable boats to ferry all 1,400 passengers a short distance to higher ground. It took until about 12:30 a.m. to complete the rescue operation, about seven hours after it began. Passengers were transported to a nearby subway station to resume their trip home.