The most common electrical problem after a storm is not dramatic damage. It is water and salt where they should not be, and it usually does not announce itself for weeks.
That is worth knowing before you start, because it changes what you are looking for. A house can come through a storm looking untouched, run normally through September, and produce its first fault in November. What follows is the order to work through — what matters in the first few minutes, what can wait until morning, and the short list of things that mean stop and call someone.
Before you touch anything
Standing water and electricity do not mix, and the rule is simpler than people expect: if you would have to stand in water to reach a panel or operate a breaker, do not. That includes damp concrete you think is only damp.
If the panel, the meter enclosure or any outlet took water, it does not get switched back on until it has been looked at. This is the part that gets argued with, because wet equipment very often works fine when you turn it on. It works fine and then it fails, because the water carried salt and dirt into contacts and enclosures designed to stay dry, and corrosion takes its time.
If the power is back but part of the house is not
A tripped breaker and a breaker that will not reset are two different messages.
A breaker that trips once and resets cleanly may simply have seen an inrush when the power came back. One reset attempt is reasonable. A breaker that trips again immediately is not being temperamental — it is reporting a fault on that circuit, and it is doing the job it was installed to do. Resetting it repeatedly does not clear the fault. It removes the protection while the fault stays where it is.
If a circuit will not hold, leave it off and have it traced. Finding out what a circuit is objecting to is a short job compared with what happens if it is ignored. What a breaker is telling you when it will not reset goes through the three faults it could be.
The signs that mean stop
These do not need interpretation. Any one of them is a reason to switch off what you safely can and call an electrician.
- A burning or fishy smell near an outlet, switch or panel.
- A panel cover that is warm to the touch, or discolored.
- Buzzing, crackling or humming from a panel, switch or outlet.
- Scorch marks or melted plastic at a receptacle.
- Sparks when something is plugged in or a switch is operated.
- Any water inside the panel, meter enclosure or a disconnect.
You can reach us at any hour on (305) 359-7312, and this is what an emergency electrician call is for.
Generators, and the one mistake that kills people
Backfeeding a generator — running it into a wall outlet with a double-ended cord to energize the house wiring — sends power back out through the meter and onto the utility line. The line crew working to restore your street has every reason to believe that line is dead. It is not a shortcut with a small risk attached. It kills utility workers, and it is illegal.
The correct arrangement is a transfer switch or a panel interlock, which makes it physically impossible to connect the generator and the utility at the same time. That is work to do before a season, not during one. Our generator installation page covers what is involved.
The second generator hazard is carbon monoxide, which kills people every hurricane season and gives almost no warning. Generators run outdoors, well away from windows, doors and vents. Not in a garage. Not in a garage with the door open. Not on a covered porch.
Salt air, and why the damage arrives late
This is the part that is specific to living here.
Storm surge and wind-driven rain carry salt into equipment that was never meant to see it — meter cans, exterior disconnects, outdoor receptacles, pool equipment, anything on the seaward side of a building. Salt is hygroscopic, so it keeps pulling moisture out of the air long after everything looks dry, and it corrodes connections from the inside of an enclosure outward.
The practical consequence is a delay. The house that seemed fine the week after a storm becomes the service call two months later, and by then nobody connects the two events. If your equipment took wind-driven rain or spray, an electrical safety inspection is worth more in October than a callout in December.
It is also why the same storm produces different outcomes in Miami Beach and a few miles inland. Proximity to salt water is a real variable, not a talking point.
Worth a professional look even if nothing seems wrong
Three cases, in order of how often they turn into something:
- Anything that got wet. Panels, disconnects, outlets, junction boxes. Working now is not evidence of being undamaged.
- Anything on a pool circuit. Pool equipment sits outdoors, near water, on circuits with specific protection requirements, and it is the first thing a storm finds.
- Older panels that took wind-driven rain. If the panel was already at its limit, water is what tips it. Our panel upgrade page covers what we assess before recommending anything.
If you are not sure
Not being sure is a good reason to ask rather than a reason to wait. Tell us what happened and what the house is doing — send us the details, or call (305) 359-7312. We work across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.
