It rained cats and dogs Monday in Sydney, with the weather station at Sydney Airport recording nearly 65 millimetres of rain, handily breaking the previous one-day record rainfall for June 22 of 23 millimetres in 1958.

All the rain led to flooding in one part of Sydney, including around Alma Head's hair salon off Townsend Street. The salon was an island amid a sea of water-covered streets and sidewalks.

Head said the situation is frustrating because just before she bought the building last April there was a flood, and she was assured that was an unusual situation.

"They said it would never happen, they said it was a freak of nature and it would probably be years and years before it happened again," Head said.

She is hoping all the rain won't put a damper on her business — she is scheduled to do the hair of 38 students going to their high school prom Tuesday night.

Environment Canada is calling for as much as 40 millimetres of rain in Sydney Tuesday afternoon — after heavy rain in a thunderstorm in the morning.