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To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: <!-- /react-text --><a href="http://www.torontostarreprints.com/" data-reactid="54">www.TorontoStarReprints.com</a></p><!-- react-empty: 55 --><div data-reactid="56"><!-- react-empty: 57 --><!-- react-empty: 58 --></div><article class="article container-gutters " data-reactid="59"><meta itemprop="description" content="A disaster like Hurricane Harvey can leave residents with a choice: to be stuck in their homes or stuck in their vehicles." data-reactid="60"/><meta itemprop="articleSection" content="GTA" data-reactid="61"/><meta itemprop="thumbnailUrl" content="https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/gta/2017/09/04/hurricane-harvey-shows-that-if-disaster-strikes-well-be-stuck-hume/flood.jpg.size.custom.crop.93x70.jpg" data-reactid="62"/><meta itemprop="datePublished" content="2017-09-04" data-reactid="63"/><meta itemprop="dateModified" content="2017-09-05" data-reactid="64"/><meta itemprop="mainEntityOfPage" content="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/09/04/hurricane-harvey-shows-that-if-disaster-strikes-well-be-stuck-hume.html" data-reactid="65"/><span itemprop="publisher" itemscope="" itemtype="https://schema.org/Organization" data-reactid="66"><span itemprop="logo" itemscope="" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" data-reactid="67"><meta itemprop="url" content="https://www.thestar.com/assets/img/thestar-logo.png" data-reactid="68"/><meta itemprop="width" content="277" data-reactid="69"/><meta itemprop="height" content="44" data-reactid="70"/></span><meta itemprop="name" content="Toronto Star" data-reactid="71"/><link itemprop="sameAs" href="https://www.thestar.com" data-reactid="72"/></span><div class="breadcrumb-header clearfix full-bleed" data-reactid="73"><div class="breadcrumb-header__gutter news" data-reactid="74"></div><div class="clearfix sticky-replace 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data-reactid="96">Hurricane Harvey shows that if disaster strikes, we’ll be stuck: Hume</h1><div class="article__subheadline" data-reactid="97"><p data-reactid="98">A disaster like Hurricane Harvey can leave residents with a choice: to be stuck in their homes or stuck in their vehicles.</p></div></header></div></div><div class="hero" data-reactid="99"><figure data-reactid="100"><div class="youtube" data-reactid="101"><div class="youtube__body" data-reactid="102"><div id="star-video-mainart-0" data-reactid="103"></div></div></div></figure></div></div><div data-reactid="104"><div class="row" data-reactid="105"><div class="small-12 inset columns" data-reactid="106"><div class="article__body clearfix article-story-body" data-reactid="107"><div class="alpha alpha--big-box show-for-medium-up" data-reactid="108"><!-- react-empty: 109 --></div><div class="show-right-rail" data-reactid="110"><div class="article__meta" data-reactid="111"><div class="inset" data-reactid="112"><div class="article__byline" data-reactid="113"><span data-reactid="114">By </span><span class="article__author" data-reactid="115"><span data-reactid="116"><span data-reactid="117"><span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="https://schema.org/Person" data-reactid="118"><span class="article__author-name" data-reactid="119"><span data-reactid="120"><span data-reactid="121"><a href="/authors.hume_christopher.html" data-reactid="122"><span itemprop="name" data-reactid="123">Christopher Hume</span></a></span></span></span></span><span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="https://schema.org/Organization" data-reactid="124"><span itemprop="logo" itemscope="" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" data-reactid="125"><meta itemprop="url" content="https://www.thestar.com/assets/img/thestar-logo.png" data-reactid="126"/><meta itemprop="width" content="277" data-reactid="127"/><meta itemprop="height" content="44" data-reactid="128"/></span><meta itemprop="name" content="Toronto Star" data-reactid="129"/><link itemprop="sameAs" href="https://www.thestar.com" data-reactid="130"/></span></span></span><span data-reactid="131"><span class="article__author-credit" data-reactid="132">Urban Issues and Architecture</span></span></span></div><div class="article__published-date" data-reactid="133">Mon., Sept. 4, 2017</div></div><div class="clearfix share-toolbar " data-reactid="134"><div class="gutter-icon" data-reactid="135"><span class="staricon staricon-share" data-reactid="136"></span></div><div class="share-toolbar__body" data-reactid="137"><div class="clearfix sticky-replace sticky-replace--inset" data-sticky-replace="true" data-reactid="138"><div class="sticky-replace__body" data-reactid="139"><ul class="share-toolbar__primary clearfix" data-reactid="140"><li data-reactid="141"><a href="#" title="Share on Facebook" data-reactid="142"><span class="staricon staricon-facebook" data-reactid="143"></span></a></li><li data-reactid="144"><a href="#" title="Share on Twitter" data-reactid="145"><span class="staricon staricon-twitter" data-reactid="146"></span></a></li><li data-reactid="147"><a href="#" title="Share with email" data-reactid="148"><span class="staricon staricon-email-outlined" data-reactid="149"></span></a></li><li data-reactid="150"><a href="#" title="More share options" class="share-toolbar-more" data-reactid="151"><span class="staricon staricon-more-dots" data-reactid="152"></span></a></li></ul></div></div><!-- react-empty: 153 --></div></div></div></div><div data-reactid="154"><p>Come the apocalypse, most Torontonians know exactly what they&#x2019;d do: just hop in the car and head north for the cottage.</p><p>Dream on. That fantasy would come to a screeching halt on the Don Valley Parkway somewhere well before the Bloor Viaduct.</p><p>As <a onContextMenu="theStarLinkClick(event, this, false)" onclick="theStarLinkClick(event, this, false)" href="https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/08/28/harvey-sends-thousands-to-rooftops-or-higher-ground-in-houston.html">Hurricane Harvey</a> has made painfully clear in recent days, when disaster strikes a big city, there&#x2019;s no way out. Residents become prisoners. Either stuck in their homes or their vehicles; for many reasons, there&#x2019;s nowhere for them to go.</p><p>Regardless, ever since a flood of biblical proportions laid waste to Houston, people have been demanding to know why no evacuation order was given. The answer is simple; it would only have piled one disaster on top of another.</p><p>&#x201c;You literally cannot put 6.5 million people on the road,&#x201d; said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. &#x201c;If you think the situation right now is bad, you give an order to evacuate, you are creating a nightmare.&#x201d;</p></div><div class="show-for-small-only alpha__big-box " data-reactid="155"><div class="article-continued" data-reactid="156"><div class="article-continued__heading" data-reactid="157">Article Continued Below</div></div><div class="alpha__big-box__body" data-reactid="158"><div class="big-box" data-reactid="159"><!-- react-empty: 160 --></div></div></div><div data-reactid="161"><p>This flies in the face of the basic human impulse to run away from catastrophe, but Turner was right. Though heavily criticized, he told a truth no one wanted to hear. Sitting in a car in shoulder-high floodwaters isn&#x2019;t exactly smart.</p></div><figure class="image" data-reactid="162"><div class="image__body " data-reactid="163"><img src="https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/gta/2017/09/04/hurricane-harvey-shows-that-if-disaster-strikes-well-be-stuck-hume/flood.jpg.size.custom.crop.1086x721.jpg" alt="Toronto&#x27;s July 2013 rains flooded the Don Valley Parkway, which would be a major evacuation route in a disaster." sizes="(min-width: 1086px) 1086px, 100vw" srcset="https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/gta/2017/09/04/hurricane-harvey-shows-that-if-disaster-strikes-well-be-stuck-hume/flood.jpg.size.custom.crop.320x212.jpg 320w, https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/gta/2017/09/04/hurricane-harvey-shows-that-if-disaster-strikes-well-be-stuck-hume/flood.jpg.size.custom.crop.480x318.jpg 480w, https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/gta/2017/09/04/hurricane-harvey-shows-that-if-disaster-strikes-well-be-stuck-hume/flood.jpg.size.custom.crop.640x424.jpg 640w, https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/gta/2017/09/04/hurricane-harvey-shows-that-if-disaster-strikes-well-be-stuck-hume/flood.jpg.size.custom.crop.800x531.jpg 800w, https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/gta/2017/09/04/hurricane-harvey-shows-that-if-disaster-strikes-well-be-stuck-hume/flood.jpg.size.custom.crop.1086x721.jpg 1086w" data-reactid="164"/></div><figcaption data-reactid="165"><!-- react-text: 166 -->Toronto&#x27;s July 2013 rains flooded the Don Valley Parkway, which would be a major evacuation route in a disaster.<!-- /react-text --><span class="image__credit" data-reactid="167"><!-- react-text: 168 -->  (<!-- /react-text --><span class="image__credit__source" data-reactid="169"><!-- react-text: 170 -->Frank Gunn<!-- /react-text --><span data-reactid="171"> / </span><!-- react-text: 172 -->THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO<!-- /react-text --></span><!-- react-text: 173 -->)<!-- /react-text --><!-- react-text: 174 -->  <!-- /react-text --></span></figcaption></figure><div data-reactid="175"><p>When Hurricane Rita hit Houston in 2005, locals &#x2014; about 3.7 million of them &#x2014; decided to hit the highway. They had seen what unfolded in New Orleans and elsewhere during Hurricane Katrina, when some 1,800 people stayed home and were killed, and weren&#x2019;t inclined to hang around. What followed has been called the &#x201c;largest evacuation in U.S. history.&#x201d;</p><p><strong>Read more:</strong></p></div><!-- react-empty: 176 --><div data-reactid="177"><p><a onContextMenu="theStarLinkClick(event, this, true)" onclick="theStarLinkClick(event, this, true)" href="https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/08/25/hurricane-harvey-menaces-texas-coast-with-rain-heavy-winds.html">Menacing Hurricane Harvey makes landfall in Texas with rain, heavy winds</a></p><p><a onContextMenu="theStarLinkClick(event, this, true)" onclick="theStarLinkClick(event, this, true)" href="https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/08/24/strengthening-hurricane-harvey-to-slam-texas-will-be-first-major-us-hurricane-since-2005.html">&#x2018;Life threatening&#x2019; Hurricane Harvey strengthens as it surges toward Texas, Louisiana</a></p><p><a onContextMenu="theStarLinkClick(event, this, true)" onclick="theStarLinkClick(event, this, true)" href="https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/08/28/harvey-sends-thousands-to-rooftops-or-higher-ground-in-houston.html">Harvey causes chaos in Houston, 6 family members feared dead after van swept away</a></p><p>It was also a nightmare. As National Public Radio reported at the time: &#x201c;In searing 100-degree heat . . . The traffic jam stretched for over 100 miles and has been going on for over a day and a half . . . Gasoline was not to be found along the interstate and cars that ran dry made the gridlock even worse. Abandoned vehicles littered the shoulder lanes.&#x201d;</p><p>Closer to home, an evacuation order was issued last year when devastating forest fires hit Fort McMurray, but not until buildings in the city were burning. Almost 90,000 people fled in their cars. Given that Fort McMurray is &#x201c;a one-road-in, one-road-out city,&#x201d; the inevitable result was chaos. Indeed, the only deaths connected to the fire came when a couple was killed in car crash during the evacuation.</p><p>In the aftermath, officials were criticized for not ordering the evacuation sooner. No surprise there; but call it too soon, you&#x2019;re overreacting; wait too long, you&#x2019;re risking lives. Damned if you, damned if you don&#x2019;t.</p><p>The only thing these disaster-stricken cities have in common was their lack of preparation. Whether it&#x2019;s even possible to prepare for catastrophe is doubtful, but some cities seem better at it than others. Vulnerability accumulates over decades through series of seemingly unrelated decisions. At the <a onContextMenu="theStarLinkClick(event, this, false)" onclick="theStarLinkClick(event, this, false)" href="https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2017/05/16/toronto-flushes-plan-for-stormwater-fee.html">urging of Mayor John Tory</a>, for example, Toronto recently opted to kill a plan that would have included a special levy to fund the costs of stormwater management. At the time council made its decision, much of the Toronto Islands was under water. Lake Ontario was at its highest level in a century, a full metre above the average of 2016.</p><p>In July 2013, when a <a onContextMenu="theStarLinkClick(event, this, false)" onclick="theStarLinkClick(event, this, false)" href="https://www.thestar.com/business/2013/08/14/july_flood_ontarios_most_costly_natural_disaster.html">month&#x2019;s worth of rain fell</a> in less than 24 hours, the subway was brought to a standstill, GO trains were stranded in water, power was cut to 300,000 and hundreds of cars abandoned, many on the parkway, which would be a major evacuation route in a disaster. Yet even at the best of times, the DVP, the Gardiner Expressway and the whole regional highway system are overwhelmed with traffic; their usefulness in a Hurricane Harvey-type situation would be limited.</p><p>In other words, we&#x2019;re stuck &#x2014; all 2.8 million of us. And indications are that the outcome wouldn&#x2019;t be pretty. Consider, for example, the small but telling fact that the city forks out about $70 million annually through its basement protection scheme. Rather than confront the causes of flooding, it prefers to pay homeowners to bail out. As civic bureaucrats know only too well, in tough economic times &#x2014; pretty well permanent in these parts &#x2014; stormwater management budgets are among the first to be affected.</p><p>Clearly, city officials believe climate change measures can always be put off for another day. Though the effects of global warming are apparent, there is no collective sense of urgency. Toronto&#x2019;s unspoken policy remains the same as always &#x2014; it won&#x2019;t happen here. If only.</p><p><em><p>Christopher Hume’s column appears weekly. 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window.theStarPreloadedJson=[["feed:",{"mainart":{"duration":"","fullWindowYoutube":false,"uploadDate":"","thumbnailSize":"","description":"","youtubeid":"KEH1pd-_NrM","type":"youtube","title":"","thumbnailUrl":"","thumbnailurl":"/content/dam/thestar/news/gta/2017/09/04/hurricane-harvey-shows-that-if-disaster-strikes-well-be-stuck-hume/flood.jpg","fullWindowMainart":false},"keywords":["oc:socialtag/g/e/o/geography_of_the_united_states","oc:socialtag/a/t/l/atlantic_hurricane_season","oc:socialtag/_2/_0/_0/_2005_atlantic_hurricane_season","oc:socialtag/g/e/o/geography_of_texas","ng:e/d/i/editorspick","ng:h/u/r/hurricane_harvey","ng:e/v/a/evacuation","ng:t/o/r/toronto","ng:c/o/l/column","ng:h/u/r/hurricane"],"TorstarTags":["7"],"publisheddate":"Mon., Sept. 4, 2017","lastreplicatedepoch":1504637481903,"type":"StoryWithVideo","body":[{"type":"text","text":"<p>Come the apocalypse, most Torontonians know exactly what they&#x2019;d do: just hop in the car and head north for the cottage.</p><p>Dream on. That fantasy would come to a screeching halt on the Don Valley Parkway somewhere well before the Bloor Viaduct.</p><p>As <a onContextMenu=\"theStarLinkClick(event, this, false)\" onclick=\"theStarLinkClick(event, this, false)\" href=\"https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/08/28/harvey-sends-thousands-to-rooftops-or-higher-ground-in-houston.html\">Hurricane Harvey</a> has made painfully clear in recent days, when disaster strikes a big city, there&#x2019;s no way out. Residents become prisoners. Either stuck in their homes or their vehicles; for many reasons, there&#x2019;s nowhere for them to go.</p><p>Regardless, ever since a flood of biblical proportions laid waste to Houston, people have been demanding to know why no evacuation order was given. The answer is simple; it would only have piled one disaster on top of another.</p><p>&#x201c;You literally cannot put 6.5 million people on the road,&#x201d; said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. &#x201c;If you think the situation right now is bad, you give an order to evacuate, you are creating a nightmare.&#x201d;</p>"},{"type":"ad","display":"small-only","pos":"1","sizes":[[300,250]],"interstitial":true,"name":"MobileMiddleArticleBigBox"},{"type":"text","text":"<p>This flies in the face of the basic human impulse to run away from catastrophe, but Turner was right. Though heavily criticized, he told a truth no one wanted to hear. Sitting in a car in shoulder-high floodwaters isn&#x2019;t exactly smart.</p>"},{"fullWindowMainart":false,"type":"image","url":"/content/dam/thestar/news/gta/2017/09/04/hurricane-harvey-shows-that-if-disaster-strikes-well-be-stuck-hume/flood.jpg","caption":"Toronto's July 2013 rains flooded the Don Valley Parkway, which would be a major evacuation route in a disaster.","credit":"Frank Gunn","source":"THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO","origImageSize":"1200x797","forceoriginal":false},{"type":"text","text":"<p>When Hurricane Rita hit Houston in 2005, locals &#x2014; about 3.7 million of them &#x2014; decided to hit the highway. They had seen what unfolded in New Orleans and elsewhere during Hurricane Katrina, when some 1,800 people stayed home and were killed, and weren&#x2019;t inclined to hang around. What followed has been called the &#x201c;largest evacuation in U.S. history.&#x201d;</p><p><strong>Read more:</strong></p>"},{"type":"articleRelated","display":"medium-up"},{"type":"text","text":"<p><a onContextMenu=\"theStarLinkClick(event, this, true)\" onclick=\"theStarLinkClick(event, this, true)\" href=\"https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/08/25/hurricane-harvey-menaces-texas-coast-with-rain-heavy-winds.html\">Menacing Hurricane Harvey makes landfall in Texas with rain, heavy winds</a></p><p><a onContextMenu=\"theStarLinkClick(event, this, true)\" onclick=\"theStarLinkClick(event, this, true)\" href=\"https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/08/24/strengthening-hurricane-harvey-to-slam-texas-will-be-first-major-us-hurricane-since-2005.html\">&#x2018;Life threatening&#x2019; Hurricane Harvey strengthens as it surges toward Texas, Louisiana</a></p><p><a onContextMenu=\"theStarLinkClick(event, this, true)\" onclick=\"theStarLinkClick(event, this, true)\" href=\"https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/08/28/harvey-sends-thousands-to-rooftops-or-higher-ground-in-houston.html\">Harvey causes chaos in Houston, 6 family members feared dead after van swept away</a></p><p>It was also a nightmare. As National Public Radio reported at the time: &#x201c;In searing 100-degree heat . . . The traffic jam stretched for over 100 miles and has been going on for over a day and a half . . . Gasoline was not to be found along the interstate and cars that ran dry made the gridlock even worse. Abandoned vehicles littered the shoulder lanes.&#x201d;</p><p>Closer to home, an evacuation order was issued last year when devastating forest fires hit Fort McMurray, but not until buildings in the city were burning. Almost 90,000 people fled in their cars. Given that Fort McMurray is &#x201c;a one-road-in, one-road-out city,&#x201d; the inevitable result was chaos. Indeed, the only deaths connected to the fire came when a couple was killed in car crash during the evacuation.</p><p>In the aftermath, officials were criticized for not ordering the evacuation sooner. No surprise there; but call it too soon, you&#x2019;re overreacting; wait too long, you&#x2019;re risking lives. Damned if you, damned if you don&#x2019;t.</p><p>The only thing these disaster-stricken cities have in common was their lack of preparation. Whether it&#x2019;s even possible to prepare for catastrophe is doubtful, but some cities seem better at it than others. Vulnerability accumulates over decades through series of seemingly unrelated decisions. At the <a onContextMenu=\"theStarLinkClick(event, this, false)\" onclick=\"theStarLinkClick(event, this, false)\" href=\"https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2017/05/16/toronto-flushes-plan-for-stormwater-fee.html\">urging of Mayor John Tory</a>, for example, Toronto recently opted to kill a plan that would have included a special levy to fund the costs of stormwater management. At the time council made its decision, much of the Toronto Islands was under water. Lake Ontario was at its highest level in a century, a full metre above the average of 2016.</p><p>In July 2013, when a <a onContextMenu=\"theStarLinkClick(event, this, false)\" onclick=\"theStarLinkClick(event, this, false)\" href=\"https://www.thestar.com/business/2013/08/14/july_flood_ontarios_most_costly_natural_disaster.html\">month&#x2019;s worth of rain fell</a> in less than 24 hours, the subway was brought to a standstill, GO trains were stranded in water, power was cut to 300,000 and hundreds of cars abandoned, many on the parkway, which would be a major evacuation route in a disaster. Yet even at the best of times, the DVP, the Gardiner Expressway and the whole regional highway system are overwhelmed with traffic; their usefulness in a Hurricane Harvey-type situation would be limited.</p><p>In other words, we&#x2019;re stuck &#x2014; all 2.8 million of us. And indications are that the outcome wouldn&#x2019;t be pretty. Consider, for example, the small but telling fact that the city forks out about $70 million annually through its basement protection scheme. Rather than confront the causes of flooding, it prefers to pay homeowners to bail out. As civic bureaucrats know only too well, in tough economic times &#x2014; pretty well permanent in these parts &#x2014; stormwater management budgets are among the first to be affected.</p><p>Clearly, city officials believe climate change measures can always be put off for another day. Though the effects of global warming are apparent, there is no collective sense of urgency. Toronto&#x2019;s unspoken policy remains the same as always &#x2014; it won&#x2019;t happen here. If only.</p><p><em><p>Christopher Hume’s column appears weekly. He can be reached at <strong><a onContextMenu=\"theStarLinkClick(event, this, false)\" onclick=\"theStarLinkClick(event, this, false)\" href=\"mailto:jcwhume4@gmail.com\">jcwhume4@gmail.com </a></strong></p></em></p>"},{"type":"articleRelated","display":"small-only"},{"type":"newsletterbox"},{"type":"text","text":""}],"assetTags":["atlantic_hurricane_season","_2005_atlantic_hurricane_season","column","editorspick","evacuation","hurricane_harvey","hurricane","geography_of_texas","toronto","geography_of_the_united_states","hume_christopher"],"seoKeywords":"editorspick,Hurricane Harvey,evacuation,Toronto,column,hurricane","promo":[],"related":{"pubdays":0,"strategy":0},"seoHead":"Hurricane Harvey shows that if disaster strikes, we’ll be stuck: Hume","headline":"Hurricane Harvey shows that if disaster strikes, we’ll be stuck: Hume","subheadline":"A disaster like Hurricane Harvey can leave residents with a choice: to be stuck in their homes or stuck in their vehicles.","canonicalUrl":"https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/09/04/hurricane-harvey-shows-that-if-disaster-strikes-well-be-stuck-hume.html","seoDescription":"A disaster like Hurricane Harvey can leave residents with a choice: to be stuck in their homes or stuck in their vehicles.","publishedepoch":1504555200000,"lastmodifiedepoch":1504637479393,"storyuuid":"655b361e-9ff8-49ab-af88-c538f01be7b5","slideshowid":"B823519490Z.1","lastmodified":"09 05 2017","lastreplicated":"Tues., Sept. 5, 2017","breadcrumbs":[{"label":"News","relurl":"/news","url":"https://www.thestar.com/content/thestar/news.html"},{"label":"GTA","relurl":"/news/gta","url":"https://www.thestar.com/content/thestar/news/gta.html"}],"authors":[{"author":"Christopher Hume","tag":"hume_christopher","media":{"credits":"","caption":"","resolutions":[{"width":200,"url":"/content/dam/thestar/columnist_logos/Hume_Christopher_logo2015W.jpg.size.custom.crop.200x0.jpg","height":0},{"width":400,"url":"/content/dam/thestar/columnist_logos/Hume_Christopher_logo2015W.jpg.size.custom.crop.400x0.jpg","height":0}],"type":"photo"},"credit":"Urban Issues and Architecture"}],"loaded":true,"comscore":"pageview_candidate","seopublisheddate":"2017-09-04","seomodifieddate":"2017-09-05","showBottom":true}],["weather:",{"date":"2018-02-13T17:15:00-0500","current":{"date":"2018-02-13T17:15:00-0500","feelsLike":"-7","icon":"b","temperature":"-3","relativeHumidity":"-","forecast":"Partly cloudy","wind":"E 9"},"longTerm":[{"date":"2018-02-14T06:00:00-0500","pop":"10","lowTemp":"1","name":"Wednesday","icon":"s","forecast":"Mainly sunny","highTemp":"4"},{"date":"2018-02-15T06:00:00-0500","pop":"40","lowTemp":"-1","name":"Thursday","icon":"a","forecast":"Isolated showers","highTemp":"5"},{"date":"2018-02-16T06:00:00-0500","pop":"40","lowTemp":"-14","name":"Friday","icon":"b","forecast":"Variable cloudiness","highTemp":"-1"},{"date":"2018-02-17T06:00:00-0500","pop":"30","lowTemp":"-7","name":"Saturday","icon":"b","forecast":"Variable cloudiness","highTemp":"-3"}],"shortTerm":[{"date":"2018-02-13T20:00:00-0500","name":"This evening","icon":"bn","temperature":"-3","forecast":"Variable cloudiness"},{"date":"2018-02-14T02:00:00-0500","name":"Tonight","icon":"bn","temperature":"-3","forecast":"Variable cloudiness"},{"date":"2018-02-14T08:00:00-0500","name":"Wednesday morning","icon":"c","temperature":"-1","forecast":"Sunny"},{"date":"2018-02-14T14:00:00-0500","name":"Wednesday afternoon","icon":"s","temperature":"4","forecast":"Mainly sunny"}],"latitude":"43.667000000000002","name":"Toronto","almanach":{"normalLow":"-11","normalHigh":"-2"},"cityId":"CAON0696","longitude":"-79.406999999999996"}],["navNews:",{"item":{"image":{"lastmodified":1518558024258,"alt":"From left: Zoé Doyle, Vladimir Alexis and Sarah Afful in Obsidian Theatre Company's production of hang, now at Berkeley Street Theatre.","url":"/content/dam/thestar/entertainment/stage/review/2018/02/12/after-hangs-slow-start-comes-a-payoff-and-punishment/hang.jpg"},"labelkicker":"Review","lastmodified":"02 13 2018","publishedepoch":"1518472229859","lastmodifiedepoch":"1518544245601","publishdate":"02 12 2018","abstract":"Play’s racial themes are all too relevant, and it gathers steam in the second half, writes Karen Fricker. 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