At about 8.15pm, rain water pooled in the drain outside her home and bubbled up to flood her garage, which she keeps as an office, her backyard and a shed.

‘‘The water came up waist-deep; it looked like a river,’’ Ms Burton said.

‘‘It came flying through my garage and into my backyard; a garbage bin and someone’s umbrella went with it.’’

Water also coursed through her shed, rising to slightly above ankle-height.

‘‘The power then went and the lights went off,’’ she said.

‘‘I was moving round in total blackness to find my mobile phone so I could ring emergency services.

‘‘Today’s my birthday, but at 11am I was cleaning up instead of celebrating.’’

Ms Burton said floods had become more frequent in the past two years and she expected the situation to worsen in the future.

‘‘I’m not in a declared flood zone, but I feel I have to prepare for one,’’ she said.

‘‘I don’t have anything that can be damaged by water, such as cardboard, on my floors.

‘‘I’ve had to put water-resistant carpet in.’’

She said a neighbour who had lived in the street for 16 years said yesterday’s flooding was the worst he had ever seen.