If water is coming in right now
Turn off at the main switch only if you can reach it standing somewhere dry. If you can't, get out of the room and keep clear of the board. Lines down in the street go to Energex on 13 19 62 at any hour. The SES handles storm damage to the home on 132 500, and anyone hurt or a fire means 000.
Why Palm Beach gets wet
Creeks on two sides
The suburb runs from Tallebudgera Creek down to Currumbin Creek, between the Coral Sea and the Pacific Motorway.
The 2022 flash floods
In February and March 2022, both creeks flash flooded to major levels, hitting homes and businesses next door in Elanora, Tallebudgera and Currumbin Waters.
Wind as well
The Bureau recorded 100 km/h gusts at Coolangatta and Gold Coast Airport at 1.43 am on 7 March 2025. Palm Beach was also activated for disaster assistance after the Christmas 2023 storms.
Houses and flats side by side
At the 2021 Census, 40.9% of homes were separate houses and 38.4% flats or apartments; 37.0% were rented, and 14.7% of dwellings were empty on census night.
Signs storm water has reached your wiring
- A safety switch that trips whenever it rains, or won't reset after a storm
- Water stains around light fittings, downlights or the exhaust fan
- A tingle from a tap, an appliance or a metal fence: stop using it and call an electrician urgently
- Outdoor lights or power points that flicker, crackle or hold water
- A burning smell you can't trace: call 000
The jobs storms leave behind
Testing and drying out circuits that got wet, replacing outdoor fittings, and tracking down why a safety switch keeps tripping. Storm and flood damage explains how an electrician works through it, and why power keeps tripping helps you narrow it down first.
In a unit block, check whether the damage is inside your unit or in the shared parts of the building before booking, as the body corporate looks after common property.
If it were our Palm Beach place
We'd treat a safety switch that trips in wet weather as a job to book now, not a nuisance to reset. It's usually a small fault in an outdoor fitting, and it's much easier to find in a dry week than in the middle of the next storm.
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.