The first few minutes
Water everywhere
Turn the stop tap at the water meter clockwise until it stops. If water is near power points or appliances, keep clear and switch off at the switchboard only if you can reach it dry.
Sewage overflowing
Stop running water in the house. If neighbours are affected too, report it to Townsville City Council, which runs the sewer mains.
A gas smell
Don't use switches, phones or flames near it. Turn the gas off at the meter or the bottle if it's safe, open doors, go outside and ring the emergency number on your gas bill or bottle supplier's docket.
After floodwater
Don't relight gas appliances. Queensland requires a licensed gasfitter to inspect a gas installation and its appliances after a flood before they're used again.
What Townsville throws at a plumbing system
Very heavy rain, in a few months
Townsville Aero averages 13.0 days a year with 25 mm or more, and its wettest day on record brought 548.8 mm. Most of the year's rain falls from January to March, which is when gullies and stormwater pipes get tested.
Breaks in the council's network
The council reported 469 water main breaks, bursts and leaks in its 2025 figures to the state. Water gushing from the road or footpath is a council report, not a plumber's job.
More than a third rented
36.6% of occupied homes in the council area were rented at the 2021 Census. Tenants facing an urgent fault should contact the landlord or agent as well as a plumber.
What can usually wait for a normal booking
A dripping tap, one slow basin or a toilet that keeps running can wait. Turn off the toilet's isolation valve under the cistern, put a bucket under the drip, and book a regular visit.
No hot water is unpleasant but rarely dangerous, unless the tank is leaking. In that case, shut the cold valve into the unit and switch it off at the switchboard. Our Townsville hot water page covers the replacement rules.
What the plumber will do when they get there
The first job is to make it safe: isolate the water, gas or the affected fixture so the damage stops. A plumber will then find the cause, such as a split pipe, a failed fitting or a blocked drain, and tell you whether a full repair can happen now or needs parts.
Ask for a written note of what was done and what's still to do. For a temporary fix at night, agree on when the permanent repair will happen before they leave.
Licence checks still count at night
Urgent work is still licensed work. Ask for the plumber's name and QBCC licence number and check it in myQBCC, even on your phone at the door. Gas work needs a gas work licence or authorisation, which you can search on the RSHQ Portal without an account.
If the job is notifiable work, the plumber must register it with the QBCC within 10 business days of invoicing you.
Warning signs on a late-night call-out
- An ad or social media post with no QBCC licence number. Licensees must show it in their ads.
- A tradie claiming a licence that the register doesn't show. In October 2020 the QBCC warned about unlicensed plumbers posing as licensed in social media ads.
- Pressure to approve a large job before the leak or blockage has been found.
What we would do
Learn where your water meter and stop tap are before the wet season, and make sure the tap still turns. In a real emergency, make it safe first, then decide who to call: the council for anything in the street, a plumber for anything inside your boundary. Let the plumber stop the damage tonight and price the full repair in daylight, when you can compare. And check the licence number before the van is unloaded.