Inches of water pooled at the back window of several Braddon shops when a severe storm hit Canberra on Wednesday afternoon.
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The car park behind stores at the southern end of Lonsdale Street flooded, causing water to seep through storage areas.
Kathmandu, HIIT Republic and Rideshop were among those affected.
Rideshop store owner Tim Palmer said the whole square behind the building turned into a catchment.
He said water overflowed the drains and started gurgling up through the sink.
"This old drainage system wasn't designed to deal with a few thousand people living here," he said.
Business co-owner Louise Savage said they would wait to see how badly the floors were damaged.
Ms Savage said they'd been able to avoid losing stock by barricading the floodwater using towels, with help from a customer and the owner of the business next door.
"I took my shoes and socks off and ran down the driveway to get to the back door to try and stop the water from the outside," she said.
"Because it's water, you can't stop it. That's like the third, fourth, maybe fifth time its happened."
Ms Savage said the floorboards are ruined underneath, all the insulation was wet and the floor was swollen, which meant the back door didn't shut properly.
"You can't just replace the flooring. Because we have to shut the shop to tear the floor out," she said.
Several shops at the Canberra Centre remained closed as of midday on Thursday as the clean-up got underway.
David Jones, Ecco, Kikki.K and Commonry were among those unable to open at their usual time, after water streamed through the ceiling at the shopping complex. Parts of the ceiling reportedly fell in at The North Face store.
The centre was evacuated at around 4.45pm after more than 20 millimetres pelted down in an hour.
Electricians were making their way around the store on Thursday assessing whether it was safe for staff to return to the stores.
At least one shop worker was getting ready to bin water damaged clothing.
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"The lights can't be turned on," she said.
"We're just working with the Canberra Centre to get the electricity on."
The Bureau of Meteorology had issued a warning about a possibility of storms developing on Tuesday.
There was no thunderstorm warning sent out on Wednesday afternoon.
A spokesperson said the bureau had closely monitored the development and progression of storms across NSW and the ACT on Wednesday.
They said forecasts issued on Wednesday morning specifically highlighted the risk of thunderstorms becoming severe.
"The bureau issues severe thunderstorm warnings based on threshold values for rain intensity, hail size, and wind strength, but does not issue warnings for flash flooding," they said.
The Canberra Airport measured almost 26 millimetres of rain between 4pm and 5pm, with a similar amounts at Hindmarsh and Curtin.
"The recorded rain rates from Wednesday's storms - although significant - were below the thresholds required for a thunderstorm warning," the bureau spokesperson said.
"Other gauges in the area recorded considerably less rain, illustrating the variability in conditions often seen around thunderstorms."
ACT State Emergency Service Agency has urged drivers to avoid flood-affected roads in Canberra.
SES personnel responded to more than 50 call outs from 4.30pm on Wednesday. The majority of people required assistance with flood-affected homes and businesses.
Emergency services were also involved in removing branches from roads in some suburbs.
The National Gallery took in some water from windows on the lakeside of the building. There was no damage sustained to the collection and the clean-up was largely complete by Thursday afternoon.
The ageing window frames on the two sides of the building facing Commonwealth Avenue Bridge and Patrick White Lawns are scheduled to be replaced in 2023.
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