Right now, in this order
Danger to life: call 000
Fire, smoke, or someone who's had a shock. Don't touch anyone who may still be in contact with the power.
Lines down or the street is out: call Ausgrid
13 13 88, 24 hours. Keep at least 8 metres from fallen wires, roughly 2 car lengths, and keep kids and dogs back too.
Water inside: leave a wet switchboard alone
Only turn off the main switch if you can reach it standing somewhere dry. For storm or flood help, the SES is on 132 500.
Then a licensed electrician
Once nobody's at risk, a fault inside the house is an electrician's job. Note what tripped, what you saw or smelled, and what's still off.
Don't switch back on after floodwater
Ausgrid says a flood-damaged property must be checked before the power goes back on, and equipment near the ground, like air conditioners and pool pumps, should stay off until it's been inspected. That holds even if everything looks dry and the lights seem fine.
Why so many Newcastle emergencies involve water
Floods come fast
City of Newcastle says flash flooding can arrive with less than an hour of warning after a storm starts, and that flooding affects up to one third of all properties in the city.
Storm surge in the low suburbs
Stockton, Carrington, Wickham, Honeysuckle, Kooragang, Maryville and Islington are the suburbs the council names as particularly sensitive to storm surge.
East Coast Lows
The June 2007 storm brought a 124 km/h gust, and the council compares the flood that followed to a 1 in 100 chance flash flood. Around 10,000 Newcastle properties went under.
Ausgrid's tools
Ausgrid has a live outage map, an online form to report an outage or hazard, and SMS outage alerts. Sign up before storm season, while the phone lines are quiet.
Is it Ausgrid's fault or yours?
Look outside first. If the streetlights and the neighbours are dark, it's the network, and there's nothing an electrician can do until Ausgrid restores supply.
If it's only your place, check the switchboard for a tripped safety switch and reset it once. If it trips straight back or won't move, leave it and get an electrician. If nothing has tripped at all, call Ausgrid anyway, because the fault may be in the line to your house.
A private pole or overhead line on your own land is a different case. Ausgrid says owners are responsible for those assets beyond its connection point, and a Level 2 provider repairs them. Level 2 electricians in Newcastle explains who does what.
Safe to do yourself, and not
You can
- Switch off at the main switch, if you can stand somewhere dry to reach it.
- Reset one tripped safety switch once, with that circuit's appliances unplugged.
- Photograph the water line on the walls, from a safe distance, for the electrician and your insurer.
- Unplug anything that sparked or smelled hot, and leave it unplugged.
Leave to a licensed electrician
- Anything that's been under floodwater or storm surge.
- A switchboard that's scorched, buzzing or warm.
- A safety switch that won't stay on.
- Air conditioners, pool pumps and hot water systems after a flood.
Sending an urgent job through us
There's no 24-hour line here. Pick Something's not working as the job and Today, it's urgent for timing. If we have a licence-checked Newcastle electrician who takes urgent fault work, the job goes to them and they'll contact you. We can't promise how fast.
What we'd do before the next storm
We'd sign up for Ausgrid's SMS alerts, save 13 13 88 in every phone, and make sure everyone at home knows where the main switch is. If your suburb is one of the low-lying ones, we'd also ask an electrician what sits close to the floor, like the switchboard, pool pump and air conditioner, before water ever gets near it.
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.