The wind has died down. The rain is tapering off. And after four hours in the dark, the lights flicker, hum, and snap back on. If you’ve ridden out even one Tallahassee storm season, you know the reflex — everybody cheers, someone resets the microwave clock, and the house goes back to normal.

Except sometimes it doesn’t.

At GT Electric Florida, some of our busiest days aren’t during the storm — they’re the 48 hours after it, when homeowners start noticing the things a power outage left behind. An outlet that won’t work. An AC that won’t kick on. A faint buzz from the panel. A surge that quietly cooked the garage door opener and the good TV.

The good news: most of what goes wrong after an outage gives you warning signs, and a ten-minute walk-through can catch them before they turn into a repair bill — or a fire. Here’s the exact post-outage electrical safety check we walk Tallahassee homeowners through.

In immediate danger? If you smell something burning, see sparks or smoke, notice water in or near your panel, or anything is hot to the touch — leave the area and call our 24/7 emergency line now at (850) 421-9002. If there are flames, call 911 first.

Why the Hour After a Storm Is So Risky in Tallahassee

A power outage isn’t just “the electricity stopped.” How the power leaves and how it comes back are both hard on your home’s electrical system — and North Florida stacks the deck against you in four specific ways.

Lightning and surges. Florida is the lightning capital of the United States, and Tallahassee sits right in the thick of it. A strike doesn’t have to hit your house to hurt it. A strike anywhere on the neighborhood grid can ride the lines back into your panel as a surge — hundreds or thousands of volts arriving in a fraction of a second, looking for something to destroy.

The reconnection spike. When the utility restores power to a neighborhood, electricity doesn’t return as a smooth, gentle flow. There’s often a brief surge as the grid re-energizes and every AC compressor, refrigerator, and water heater on the block tries to restart at the same moment. That reconnection spike is when a lot of already-stressed equipment finally gives up.

Water intrusion. Our storms bring wind-driven rain and flooding. Water finds its way into exterior outlets, meter cans, weatherheads, and — in the worst cases — the panel itself. Water and electricity in the same box is one of the few true “do not touch it, call now” situations.

Generator transitions. As Tallahassee’s standby generator population grows and ages, we see more homes where the generator ran fine during the outage, but the transition back to utility power caused a problem — a transfer switch that stuck, or a unit that kept backfeeding after the grid came back.

Knowing that, here’s what to actually check.

The Post-Outage Electrical Safety Check

Work through these in order. Most homeowners can safely complete steps 1 through 6 in about 10 minutes. Anything that prompts you to “call GT Electric” we’ve clearly flagged.

1. Before the power returns, unplug the expensive stuff

If you’re reading this while you’re still out, you have a head start. The single best thing you can do is unplug sensitive, high-value electronics before power is restored: TVs, computers, gaming consoles, the microwave, and anything with a delicate circuit board. This takes them out of the path of the reconnection surge. Leave the refrigerator and other large appliances plugged in — you want to monitor those, and they’re better protected by a proper surge system than by yanking cords.

2. When the lights come back, watch and listen for 60 seconds

Don’t walk away. For the first minute after power returns, pay attention:

• Are the lights steady, or are they flickering, dimming, or unusually bright? Lights that flicker across multiple rooms — or that surge bright then dim — can signal a lost neutral or a service-side problem that will damage everything running.
• Do you hear buzzing, humming, or crackling from the panel, an outlet, or a switch? A healthy electrical system is silent.
• Does anything smell hot — that sharp “electrical” or burning-plastic odor?

If lights are flickering hard, you hear buzzing at the panel, or you smell anything burning, stop and call. Flip the main breaker off if you can reach it safely.

3. Check your electrical panel — carefully

Go to your breaker box and look (don’t start flipping things randomly):

• Any tripped breakers? After an outage, it’s normal to find one or two. Reset a tripped breaker once. If it trips right back, leave it off — that circuit has a problem, and forcing it won’t fix it.
• Any scorch marks, melting, or a burnt smell at the panel? That’s a call, not a reset.
• Is the panel or any breaker warm to the touch? It shouldn’t be. Warmth means resistance where there shouldn’t be any.
• Any moisture or water staining inside or below the panel? Do not touch it. Shut off the main if it’s safe to reach and call.

Older Midtown, Myers Park, and Indianhead homes sometimes still run on Federal Pacific (Stab-Lok) or Zinsco panels, which are known to fail to trip when they should. If a storm just stress-tested one of these, it’s worth a professional look — our panel upgrade guide explains why.

4. Test outlets and look for surge casualties

Walk the house. A surge often kills things quietly:

• Dead outlets? First, find the nearest GFCI outlet (kitchen, bathrooms, garage, exterior) and press Reset — one tripped GFCI can knock out a whole string of outlets downstream. If resetting doesn’t restore power and nothing’s warm or burnt, note it for a non-emergency service call.
• Electronics that won’t turn on, or that power on but behave strangely (won’t hold settings, screen glitches, clocks wrong that you didn’t reset)?
• Appliances that won’t start — especially the AC, refrigerator, well pump, or pool pump. These are the expensive surge victims, and a compressor that got hit may run hot before it fails completely.

A single dead device is usually just that device. Several dead devices at different circuit points suggest a surge event that came through your service — and that’s worth an inspection, because whatever let the surge through is still there.

5. Handle any water-and-electricity situation as an emergency

This one overrides everything else. If a storm brought water into contact with your electrical system — a flooded panel, soaked exterior outlets, a wet ceiling under a leak with lights flickering below it, water pooled near the meter — do not touch the switches or the panel. Don’t stand in water and reach for anything electrical. Get to a dry spot, shut off the main breaker only if you can reach it without standing in water, and call. Wet electrical equipment often has to be inspected and sometimes replaced even after it dries, because corrosion keeps working long after the water is gone.

6. Check your generator’s transition back to utility power

If you ran a standby or portable generator during the outage:

• Standby generators should sense the return of utility power, transfer back automatically, and then shut down after a cooldown. Confirm it actually did. A unit still running, or one whose transfer switch seems stuck, can backfeed the grid — a genuine danger to the line crews working to restore your neighborhood. If the transition didn’t happen cleanly, shut it down per your manual and call.
• Portable generators should be shut off and disconnected once utility power is stable. Never leave one running in the house after the lights are back on.

If your generator didn’t start when you needed it, or ran rough during the outage, put it on the list for service now — before the next storm. Most generator failures trace back to skipped maintenance, and the middle of a hurricane is the worst possible time to find out.

7. Look outside — but keep your distance

From a safe distance, scan the exterior:

• Downed power lines anywhere near your property — in the yard, draped on the fence, tangled in a fallen limb. Assume every downed line is live. Stay far back, keep kids and pets away, and report it to the utility and 911.
• Damage to your weatherhead or service drop — the point where the utility’s wires connect to your house. If the mast is bent, pulled loose, or the wires are sagging, that’s the utility’s responsibility up to the connection and yours after it; call us and we’ll help sort out which is which.
• Pool, hot tub, and dock circuits. Ground faults near water after a storm can be life-threatening. If a pool light is flickering or a GFCI near the water won’t reset, treat it as urgent.

When to Call vs. When You’re Fine

Call GT Electric (or 911 if there’s fire/smoke) right away if you have:

• Any burning smell, smoke, sparks, or scorching
• Water in or near the panel or outlets
• A breaker that won’t stay reset
• Buzzing or humming from the panel
• Lights flickering or surging across multiple rooms
• A downed line, or a damaged weatherhead/service mast
• A generator that won’t transfer back or keeps running

It can usually wait for a scheduled visit if you have:

• One dead outlet or one dead light, nothing warm, nothing burnt
• A single GFCI you haven’t tried resetting yet
• One breaker that tripped once and has behaved since
• A neighborhood-wide outage (that’s the utility — report it and sit tight)

When in doubt, call. Talking it through on the phone is free, and we would much rather do that than have you spend the night next to a problem you couldn’t see.

The Best Post-Storm Defense Is Set Up Before the Storm

Every homeowner who calls us after a surge asks the same thing: how do I stop this from happening again? Three upgrades do most of the work.

Whole-home surge protection at the panel. This is the single best defense against Tallahassee’s lightning. A panel-mounted surge protective device intercepts the surge before it reaches your branch circuits, protecting your AC, appliances, and everything hardwired — the things a power strip can’t cover.

A modern, correctly sized panel. If your panel is a Federal Pacific, Zinsco, or simply old and full, it can’t protect you the way a current one does. Storms are exactly when that gap shows up.

An annual generator service. If you rely on a standby generator, service it every year — ideally before June 1. A generator that hasn’t been run and load-tested may not start when the grid goes down.

We cover the broader home walk-through in our electrical safety checklist for Tallahassee homeowners, including why standby units and generators fail during a power outage.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it safe to turn everything back on right after the power comes back? Give it a minute. Watch for flickering lights, listen for buzzing at the panel, and check for any burning smell before you start plugging sensitive electronics back in. If anything seems off, hold off and call. A brief surge is common when the grid re-energizes, which is why unplugging valuables before power returns is a good idea.

A power surge hit during the storm. How do I know if it damaged my house? The tell-tale sign is several devices on different circuits failing at once — the AC won’t start, a couple of outlets are dead, and some electronics won’t power on. A single dead device is usually just that device; multiple failures across the house point to a surge that came through your service and warrant an inspection.

My breaker tripped after the outage and won’t reset. What should I do? Reset a tripped breaker once. If it trips again immediately, leave it off — the breaker is doing its job and indicating a fault in the circuit. Repeatedly forcing it back on bypasses the safety device that’s trying to prevent a fire. Book a service call.

There’s water near my electrical panel after the storm. Can I dry it out myself? No. Don’t touch the panel or switches, and don’t stand in water to reach anything electrical. Shut off the main only if you can do it safely from a dry spot, then call. Wet electrical equipment often needs professional inspection or replacement even after it appears dry.

My generator ran during the outage, but now the power’s back — do I need to do anything? Confirm a standby unit transferred back to utility power and shut down on its own; a portable should be turned off and disconnected once utility power is stable. If the transfer didn’t happen cleanly or the unit keeps running, shut it down and call — a stuck transfer switch can backfeed the grid and endanger line crews.

I saw a downed power line in my yard after the storm. What now? Assume it’s live, stay well back, keep children and pets away, and call 911 and your utility. Never drive over it or try to move it. Don’t approach your service connection until the utility confirms it’s safe.

Ride Out the Next One With Confidence

Storms are a fact of life in the Big Bend. The homes that come through them best aren’t the lucky ones — they’re the ones with surge protection at the panel, a modern breaker box, and a generator that’s actually been serviced. And when something does go wrong after an outage, the homeowners who catch it early save themselves from a panel replacement, an insurance claim, and a sleepless night.

If your power just came back and something doesn’t feel right — a smell, a sound, a dead AC, a breaker that won’t hold — don’t wait it out. Call us.

📞 GT Electric of Florida — Storm-season electrical service for the Big Bend. Schedule an inspection: (850) 655-0868 | 24/7 emergency line: (850) 421-9002 | Contact us online

Serving Tallahassee, Leon County, Wakulla County, Gadsden County, and Jefferson County since 1979. Licensed, insured, and locally owned.