If floodwater has been through the house
Don't switch anything back on that's been under water. If it's safe to reach the main switch from dry ground, turn it off; if not, stay out. Call the SES on 132 500 for help. After a flood, SA Power Networks won't reconnect an inundated property until an electrician has tested and repaired the wiring and given you a certificate of compliance, and you'll also need to contact your retailer.
Gawler's homes and its rivers
Built in bursts
Gawler flourished in the 1870s and 1880s, new building virtually stopped from 1930, and it picked up again after World War II. The older streets mix Victorian-era stone with postwar brick.
Church Hill State Heritage Area
Declared on 6 June 1985, Church Hill keeps its homes from early Victorian cottages and villas to Federation bungalows. Visible changes there need approval, so electrical work has to be planned around the building, not the other way round.
Two rivers through town
Significant flooding can start within the township from both the North and South Para, and Gawler flooded after severe storms in late September 2016.
Gawler East's newer estates
Parts of Gawler East date from the town's settlement, while new estates were still going up there in the 2010s.
Mostly houses, mostly owned
Across the council area in 2021, 81.2% of occupied homes were separate houses, 39.1% were mortgaged and 27.3% were rented.
Old town, new estate: different jobs
In the older streets, it's usually about the wiring's age. Stone and early brick houses can still have original circuits, fewer power points than anyone needs, and boards without safety switches. An electrician who does a lot of older-home rewiring will know how to run new cable through thick walls and old ceilings without damaging them.
In Gawler East's newer estates, the board is usually modern and the jobs are additions: solar, an EV charger, outdoor power and lighting.
Near the rivers, it's worth thinking about what sits low. Power points in a garage, laundry or shed are the first to get wet, and raising them, or putting them on their own protected circuit, is a sensible job to do before the next flood rather than after it.
If we lived near the Para
We'd ask an electrician which circuits in the house are lowest to the ground and whether they're all on safety switches. If a flood ever comes, that's the difference between a few circuits to test and the whole house sitting dark until every one has been checked.
Want a specialist to sort it?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match the licence-checked local electrician who does this kind of work, and they call you. No ring-around, and your number goes to them alone.