Safety before anything else
Water and electricity are the first concern. If water is running near light fittings, power points, the switchboard or appliances, keep everyone away from that area and do not touch wet fittings. If there is any sign of danger to life, such as sparking, smoke or a person hurt, call Triple Zero (000). If power lines are down outside, treat them as live and keep well away. An electrician can check wet circuits once the storm has passed.
Watch the ceiling. A plasterboard ceiling holding water may sag, bulge or show a spreading dark patch. A sagging ceiling can come down without warning and bring wet insulation with it. Close off the room, keep children and pets out, and move valuables from underneath if you can do so without standing below the bulge. Do not push on the ceiling or stand on furniture to reach it.
Stay off the roof and out of the roof space. Wet tiles and sheets are slippery, wind can move loose materials, and lightning is a real risk. Ceiling joists in a roof space can be hard to see in torchlight and plaster between them will not hold your weight. Do not enter an unsafe room to investigate or protect belongings. Limit observations to a safe area inside or to ground level once the weather eases.
Limit the damage inside
Only where the ceiling is stable and there is no electrical concern, put buckets, tubs or bins under drips, with towels inside them to stop splashing. Move furniture, rugs, electronics and documents away from the wet area. Lift items off the floor in rooms where water is pooling. Leave wet carpet and underlay handling to the restoration team if there is any electrical, contamination or structural concern. These steps are about reducing damage while you wait for help, not about fixing the roof.
Check the rooms next to the obvious leak and the ceiling along the same side of the house. Water in a roof space often travels before it drips, so a second leak can start somewhere you were not watching. Look at cupboards, wardrobes and the tops of walls. A quick walk through the house every half hour during heavy rain can catch a new drip before it soaks a mattress or a bookshelf.
Keep the gutters and downpipes in mind. Hail and leaves can block gutters in minutes during a storm, and a blocked gutter can overflow into the eaves or back into the house. Box gutters are especially prone to this. You cannot safely clear them during the storm, but noting where water is overflowing helps the roofer later. Our box gutter overflow guide explains how that type of leak behaves.
| Situation | What to do now | Who to contact |
|---|---|---|
| Water near lights, power points or switchboard | Keep clear, do not touch fittings | Electrician; Triple Zero (000) if there is danger to life |
| Ceiling sagging or bulging | Close the room, move valuables if safe, stay out from under it | Roofer or SES for make-safe; insurer |
| Steady drips, ceiling intact | Buckets, move belongings, check nearby rooms | Roofer or SES 132 500; insurer |
| Broken skylight or large hole | Close off the room, cover belongings | Roofer or SES for temporary cover; insurer |
| Door knocker offering immediate full repair | Ask for a licence number and written quote, avoid large deposits | Check the licence with QBCC before agreeing |
Who to call and what to tell them
For storm damage that is not life threatening, the Queensland State Emergency Service can be reached on 132 500. The 132 500 flyer published by Queensland Fire and Emergency Services describes the SES carrying out temporary repairs to damaged roofs and similar storm damage, and asks callers to have the exact address, a contact number, the number of storeys, the roof type and any hazards ready. After a widespread storm the SES may be very busy, so a roofer may also be arranged.
When you call a roofer, give the same kind of information: address, roof type if you know it, number of storeys, where water is coming in, whether there is any electrical concern and whether the damage is from hail, wind, a fallen branch or unknown. Mention solar panels, a steep block or anything that affects access. This helps the roofer plan what to bring and how to reach the damaged area safely.
Contact your insurer as soon as practical, even before you know the extent of the damage. The Australian Government Moneysmart guide to making a home insurance claim recommends this, along with photographing damage before temporary repairs and keeping receipts. Ask your insurer whether they want to arrange the make-safe, whether you can use your own roofer, and what records they need. Write down the claim number and who you spoke to.
Make-safe first, permanent repair later
A make-safe is temporary work to stop more water coming in. It may be a tarp secured over damaged tiles or sheets, replacing a few broken tiles, a temporary cover over a broken skylight or clearing a blocked gutter. It is not the finished repair. Ask the person doing it to photograph the damage before and after, describe what they did and note what still needs assessing. That record is useful for you, your insurer and the roofer who does the permanent work.
Tarps need checking. Wind can lift an edge or pool water on a tarp, and hail can tear it. After the first night and after the next rain, look at the tarp from the ground and check inside for new drips. If it has moved or water is pooling, call whoever fitted it. Do not climb up to adjust it. A tarp is a short-term measure and should not stay on for months while the permanent repair is organised.
After a large storm, people may knock on doors offering immediate repairs. Take your time. The Queensland Building and Construction Commission advises homeowners to use QBCC licensed contractors for repair work, to check the licence number on any quote, and to avoid paying large deposits upfront. It also states that a contract is a legal requirement for all work valued over $3,300. A make-safe does not require you to sign up for the whole repair on the spot.
Record what happened while it is fresh
Take photographs and short videos of every wet area inside, the ceiling stains, damaged belongings and any water on the floor. Outside, once it is safe, photograph the roof from the ground, any debris in the yard, broken tiles on paths and hail stones next to something for scale. Moneysmart's guidance is to photograph damage before temporary repairs where you can. Keep the files together with the date and time.
Write a short account while you remember it: the time the storm arrived, when water first appeared, which rooms were affected, what you did and who you called. Keep damaged items unless your insurer says otherwise, and keep every receipt for emergency work, tarps, towels or accommodation. This does not need to be formal. A note on your phone is fine as long as it is kept.
If you had the roof inspected or repaired before the storm, find that paperwork. Insurers may ask whether damage was caused by the storm or by existing wear. An inspection report showing the roof was in reasonable condition, or receipts for recent maintenance, helps answer that. If there were known issues, be straightforward about them. Our guide to getting an insurance repair scope right covers this in more detail.
The next few days
Once water has stopped, the inside needs drying. Wet insulation above a ceiling can stay damp for a long time and keep the plasterboard wet. Ask the roofer or your insurer's assessor whether the ceiling needs to be opened, whether insulation needs replacing and whether a drying company is needed. Painting over a stain before the ceiling has dried hides the problem without fixing it.
Look for smell and mould. A musty smell in a room that got wet, dark spots on the ceiling or walls, or swollen skirting boards are signs moisture is still there. Keep windows open when the weather allows. Tell your insurer and the people doing repairs if these signs appear, because they may change the scope of the internal work.
Book the permanent roof assessment. The roofer should look at the whole roof, not only the obvious damage, because hail and wind often damage areas you cannot see from the ground. Ask for a written scope with photographs showing each item of damage, and keep make-safe work, roof repairs and internal repairs as separate lines. If you are comparing quotes, our quote comparison guide shows what to check.
Watch the next forecast. Storms can arrive in runs over several days, and a roof that has been made safe but not repaired is more exposed the second time. Before the next rain, check from the ground that tarps are still secure and gutters are not full of hail or leaves, and put containers back under the places that leaked. If the make-safe fails, call whoever did it straight away and record the new damage separately so it is not confused with the first event.
Hypothetical example: a hailstorm in Centenary Heights
A severe storm with hail passes over Centenary Heights in the late afternoon. Twenty minutes later, water drips from the living room ceiling near a downlight and a dark patch spreads across the hallway ceiling. The owner switches nothing on or off near the wet fitting, keeps everyone out of the living room and leaves belongings there until it is safe. From an unaffected area they check other rooms and report a separate drip in a wardrobe.
They phone their insurer, get a claim number, and call a roofer and the SES. The roofer arrives the next morning, photographs cracked tiles on two slopes and a blocked valley, replaces the worst tiles as a temporary measure and fits a tarp over one area. The make-safe note lists what was done and says a full roof inspection is still needed. An electrician checks the wet downlight circuit before it is used again.
Over the following days, the owner photographs the ceilings each morning, sends the pictures and receipts to the insurer, and books the full roof assessment. When a door knocker offers to reroof the house that week for a cash deposit, they decline and wait for the written scope. The steps are ordinary. What made the difference was doing them in order and keeping a record.