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Residents in the Niagara Peninsula had to deal with yet another day of torrential downpours and lightning strikes. There were flash flood warnings from St. Catharines to Niagara Falls. And at least one house was struck by lightning.

it was one torrential downpour after another. The kind of weather that makes you want to stay home.

Before the storms rolled in, the Parker family tried to have some fun at Nickel Beach in Port Colborne.

Isabel Parker: “It’s cold. Disappointingly cold.”

The Parkers are from Las Vegas. When they left home it was 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Today, Isabel was trying to keep warm with a big cup of hot coffee.

Most of the things they’ve been doing here have been inside.

Isabel Parker: “We went to the indoor water park. And then took a boat tour to the falls. (Was it cold?) Freezing.”

On a normal, hot July day, this beach would be packed with people from all over Southern Ontario. Today, there were just a few foreign tourists.

The cold weather didn’t bother the Janzen’s from Germany.

Sasha Janzen: “We’re okay. We hit the water. We played with beach balls. It doesn’t make it so crowded.”

Business at Nickel Beach is down about 25 per cent this summer. The good thing about this weather. You don’t have to turn on the air conditioning.

Rose Johnston: Well, I haven’t had it on, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and today either.”

Rose Johnston says last year air conditioning added about 40 dollars to her hydro bill.

Across Ontario in July, peak period hydro consumption is down about 15 per cent. To put that in perspective, that 15% is equal to the amount of electricity that Hamilton and St. Catharines uses in a year.