The first ten minutes
Burst or leaking pipe
Turn off the water at the meter, which is usually near the front boundary, close to the left or right side. Mop up only once the flow has stopped.
Sewage overflowing
Stop every tap, shower and flush in the house. Keep children and pets away from the overflow, and check whether it's coming out of your gully or a maintenance hole in the street.
Gas smell
Leave the building, don't flick switches, and ring the gas emergency number on your gas bill or bottle supplier's paperwork from outside.
Hot water tank leaking
Close the cold water valve to the unit if you can reach it safely, and turn off its power or gas.
The City or a plumber?
City of Gold Coast runs the water and sewer mains, so some emergencies are its job, not a plumber's.
Call the City for a burst main on a road or public land, which it says it investigates within 24 hours of being told. Also call it for sewage coming out of a maintenance hole in the street or a park, and for a soggy patch around your meter while the meter isn't recording any use.
Call a plumber for anything inside your fence: a burst pipe, a leaking fitting on the meter tail, a blocked toilet or drain, or a failed hot water system. If the plumber finds the blockage is in the City's main, they report it to the City.
Gold Coast emergencies, by the numbers
Storms, not frozen pipes
Coolangatta's records show a highest daily fall of 369.0 mm and 16.4 days a year with 25 mm or more. Its average is just 0.5 days a year at 2°C or below, so burst pipes here aren't a frost problem.
Rain in the sewer
City of Gold Coast says overflows in heavy rain are typically caused by stormwater getting into the sewer. In its 2020 to 2023 inspections, 16% of about 4500 properties had that problem.
Pressure in the mains
Water in the City's mains runs from 220 kPa up to around 900 kPa. The City keeps it below 900 kPa partly to reduce burst pipes and damage to private plumbing.
Report a blockage on the day
If an after-hours plumber traces your blockage into the City's main, it has to be reported to the City on the same day it was found. A blockage reported later isn't reimbursed, and nor are repeat visits. Ask the plumber to make that call before they leave.
Urgent doesn't mean unlicensed
At 2am the rules are the same as at 2pm. Ask for the plumber's QBCC licence number and check it on the QBCC registers when you can. A gas fitter also needs a gas work licence or authorisation from Resources Safety and Health Queensland.
Get the price for the call-out and the first hour before work starts, and ask what's included. Our national emergency plumber page covers the jobs that can wait until morning.
Ask before they start
- What's your QBCC licence number, and whose name is it in?
- What will the call-out and first hour cost, and is anything extra after hours?
- If the blockage is in the City's sewer, will you report it today?
- Can you make it safe now and quote the full repair in daylight?
What we would do
Learn where your meter and its stop tap are this week, while nothing is wrong, and show everyone in the house. Every minute spent hunting for them in a flood is another minute of water on the floor. In a real emergency, stop the water or leave the gas, then decide who to call: the City for anything in the street or at a meter that isn't recording, a plumber for anything inside your fence. Ask the plumber to make it safe first and quote the rest, so you aren't committing to a big job at midnight.