Minute two
Water and power in the same room is the only part of this that can hurt you.
Everything else in a flood is money. This part is not. Isolate the affected circuits at the panel, and do not reach into water to unplug anything, however shallow it looks.
- 00Go to the panel, not the socketThe switch you can reach dry is the one to use. A socket at floor level in a wet room is not it.
- 01Do not stand in water to reach the panelIf the panel is in the wet area, leave it and call the utility or an electrician.
- 02Switch off the circuits for the wet roomsLighting and sockets both. If you are unsure which is which, switch the lot off.
- 03Leave anything already submerged aloneAppliances, extension leads, floor lamps. They are replaceable and you are not.
Goes to an independent contractor. Nothing is booked until you say so. Calls may be recorded.
Why the socket is the wrong place
Unplugging requires putting a hand near the point where water and current meet, at floor level, while standing on a wet floor. The breaker panel is usually dry, usually above waist height, and switches the same circuit without any of that.
Where a ceiling is holding water above a light fitting, that circuit is the first one to isolate. Water finds the fitting because the fitting is a hole in the ceiling.
What happens to wet electrics afterwards
Anything submerged is generally replaced rather than dried and reused: sockets, switches, appliance boards and the ends of cables that sat in water. An electrician decides which circuits can be re-energised and when, and that decision comes before the drying equipment is plugged in.
A restoration crew needs power to run air movers and dehumidifiers, which is why the electrical check often comes first in practice rather than last.
Who decides what is safe
The boundary is different in a house and in a building with shared services.
- 01You own and live hereIsolate what you can reach dry, and get an electrician to say what can be turned back on.
Ask them: do you need power on site, and is the supply safe to use? - 02You own and let it outHabitability arrives quickly when a property has no safe power. Treat the electrician as urgent rather than tidy-up.
- 03You live in a flatYour consumer unit is yours; the riser and landlord supply are not. Tell the management company the same hour.
- 04You rentIsolate at your own panel if you can do it dry, then report in writing. Do not start pulling appliances out of water.
Goes to an independent contractor. Nothing is booked until you say so. Calls may be recorded.
Where these figures come from
Published by someone other than us. Each link goes to their own words rather than to our summary of them.