Shoppers inside Eaton Centre found themselves in the middle of a rainstorm amid a severe thunderstorm warning for Toronto and surrounding regions Wednesday afternoon.

Water was seen leaking into the top level of shopping centre and poured down onto the levels below.

So I was just in Toronto’s Eaton Centre and it started pouring rain. INSIDE a store. <a href="https://t.co/O9O3FikrhO">pic.twitter.com/O9O3FikrhO</a> —@NatashaFatah Oh my goodness guys. It’s legitimately a waterfall inside the Eaton Centre. <a href="https://t.co/h9ZIz0CeTX">pic.twitter.com/h9ZIz0CeTX</a> —@NatashaFatah

Cadillac Fairview, the company that owns Eaton Centre, said in a statement the leak began on Level 3 in the mall's southeast end, and was the result of rainfall.

The property team located the source of the leak and closed some shops for the evening. The mall remained up and running, the statement said.

Environment Canada issued the warning just after 4 p.m. ET calling for the possibility of very strong wind gusts, heavy rain and up to nickel-sized hail.The weather agency was tracking a cluster of storms moving eastward at approximately 75 km/h.

Wicked scene downtown Toronto right now as rain and wind whips through the streets. <a href="https://t.co/1PRnsXkpxd">pic.twitter.com/1PRnsXkpxd</a> —@Devin_Heroux The warning has since ended.

Toronto police say they dealt with an influx of weather-related calls Wednesday afternoon, including reports of downed wires and trees. People were being warned to stay at least 10 metres away from any downed wires and to treat them as live.

The TTC said several of its bus routes were diverting as a result and signal issues on Line 1 briefly forced trains to turn back at Sheppard station.

At one point, Toronto Hydro said there were approximately 9,000 people without power in pockets scattered across the city. By late Wednesday night, that number was down to 3,600 and the utility said it hoped the majority of those customers would have power by morning.

Hydro One reported as many as 40,000 customers without power, warning that some would be without power overnight.