Monsoon electrical safety for homes, shops and farms in Karnataka

Why the rains bring the most accidents

Water does three things to an electrical system. It lets current leak out of places it should not, such as a cracked switch, a taped joint or a damp wall. It makes the ground and your body far better conductors, so a leakage that gave a mild tingle in April can kill in July. And wind and falling branches bring lines down at the same time as the ground is wet.

The figures bear this out. BESCOM's own filing with KERC, reported in 2025, showed 118 deaths in electrical accidents in its area between April and October 2024, with accidents rising in the rainy months and most deaths in rural areas. Snapped conductors, live stay wires and poor maintenance were among the causes. If a family does lose someone to a fault on the ESCOM's lines, read our guide to electrical accident compensation; the rest of this page is about making sure it never comes to that.

Most of the precautions below cost little or nothing. The expensive ones, such as an RCCB, a tested earth pit or a raised pump starter, are cheap next to a hospital bill or a burnt motor.

Before the rains

RCCB and earthing: check them before June

The two things that save lives in a wet house are a working 30 mA RCCB and a good earth. The RCCB switches off the supply when current leaks to earth through a person or a damp wall. The earth gives fault current an easy path so that metal bodies of appliances do not stay live.

• Press the test button. Do it once a month during the rains. If the RCCB does not trip, it is not protecting anyone, and it must be replaced, not bypassed.
• Nuisance tripping in the rain is a warning. If the RCCB trips every time it rains, current is leaking somewhere: an outdoor light fitting full of water, a terrace socket, a damp junction box or a pump cable. Switch the circuit MCBs off one at a time to find which circuit it is, then get that circuit repaired. Never remove the RCCB to "solve" the problem.
• Old houses may have no RCCB at all. One can be added to the existing DB in most cases. See MCB, RCCB, RCBO and ELCB explained for which device goes where.
• Earth pits dry out in summer and corrode over years. Get the resistance measured before the monsoon and keep the readings, so you can see when a pit starts to fail. Our earthing and testing checklist explains what the electrician should check.

Gates, terraces, sumps and outdoor lights

Most shocks at home in the rainy season happen outside the house, not inside it. Walk around your building with these in mind:

• Metal gates and grills with a gate light, a doorbell or a CCTV camera on them. If the cable is damaged where it enters the fitting, the whole gate can become live. Use a proper weatherproof fitting, run the cable in conduit and connect the gate to earth.
• Terrace and balcony sockets need weatherproof covers that stay closed. A socket that collects water is a leakage point every time it rains.
• Sump and borewell pumps at ground level often sit in a pit that floods. Keep the starter or switch above the highest water level you have seen, and use a proper cable joint kit, not tape, for any joint near water.
• Garden and compound lights on low posts get submerged. Raise them or put them on a separate MCB that you can switch off in heavy rain.
• Overhead water tanks with a float switch or a level controller: the cable runs over the roof in the open. Check its insulation where it bends over the parapet.
• Washing areas with a socket next to the tap. Move the socket away from splashing water or fit a covered one.

During storms

• Unplug TVs, computers and chargers during lightning. Surge protectors help but are not a guarantee.
• Do not use wet hands or stand barefoot on wet floors when operating switches.
• Stay away from poles, stay wires and transformers. Cattle are often killed by touching live stay wires after storms.
• If a line falls, keep 10 metres away and call 1912.

Fallen lines, stay wires and poles

After a storm, treat every wire on the ground as live, even if the lights in your house are off. A line can be energised from another feeder, from a back-feeding generator or when the ESCOM tries to restore supply. Stay at least 10 metres away, keep children and cattle back, and call 1912.

• Stay wires hold poles upright and are meant to be dead. When a pole leans, a jumper touches the stay, or the stay insulator is broken, the stay wire can become live. Cattle tied to it or rubbing against it are the usual victims. If a stay wire is slack, the pole is leaning or the insulator is missing, report it before the next storm.
• Water around a fallen conductor can be live over a wide area. Do not wade through a flooded road or field where a line has fallen.
• Trees touching lines are a common cause of tripping and of live branches. Do not cut branches near a line yourself; ask the ESCOM to clear them.
• A sparking pole, a bang from the transformer or a burning smell should be reported as a danger, not just as "no power", so it gets priority.

Our power cut complaint guide lists the ESCOM WhatsApp numbers and the details to give so the lineman finds the spot quickly. If an 11 kV line runs over or near your house, read HT line safety and clearance before you send anyone onto the terrace.

If someone gets a shock

1. Do not touch the person while they may still be in contact with the supply. You will become part of the circuit.
2. Cut the supply. Switch off the main switch or pull the plug if you can reach it from a dry spot. For a line outside, call 1912 and wait for it to be switched off.
3. If the supply cannot be cut and the source is low voltage inside the house, stand on something dry and push the person or the wire away with dry wood or plastic. Never try this with an HT line.
4. Check breathing. If the person is not breathing normally, start CPR and call 108. A person who has been shocked does not carry any charge once they are clear of the supply.
5. Go to hospital even if they seem fine. Electric current can damage the heart and muscles without visible burns, and some effects show up hours later.
6. Do not switch the faulty circuit on again until an electrician has found the fault.

After water enters the house

Appliances, inverters and solar after water or a surge

• Appliances that stood in water (fridges, washing machines, motors, inverters) should be checked by a service technician before use. Water and silt inside a motor or a control board can short it the first time it is switched on.
• Inverter batteries in a flooded room should be disconnected and checked. A battery that has been submerged can leak or short.
• Rooftop solar panels stay live in daylight even when the grid is off: the inverter stops exporting, but the panels and DC cables still carry high voltage. Do not touch the DC cables or open the inverter or the junction box after water damage. Ask your solar installer to isolate and inspect it. See our rooftop solar guide.
• Generators used during long outages must be connected through a changeover switch that keeps them from feeding the ESCOM line. Back-feed can kill a lineman working on a line he believes is dead. Read DG set and generator approval for larger sets.
• Photograph damage and keep the bills and service reports. You will need them for insurance, or for a complaint to the ESCOM if a supply fault caused the damage.

Pump sets and farms in the rain

Farms see the worst of the monsoon: long cable runs in the open, starters in sheds, waterlogged fields and overhead LT lines crossing the land. A few habits prevent most farm accidents:

• Starter in a closed box, above flood level, on a wall or a raised stand, with a roof over it. Never operate it with wet hands or while standing in water. A dry wooden plank or rubber mat in front of the starter helps.
• No bare or taped joints in the pump cable. Use a proper jointing kit for submersible pump cables and keep surface cables off the ground or in conduit.
• Earth the starter and the motor body and check the earth before the season. A starter box that gives a tingle is a fault, not a normal thing to live with.
• Never connect a fence to the mains. Wiring a crop fence to the supply to keep animals out kills people and livestock every year and is illegal. Only an approved fence energiser may be used.
• A snapped line in a field can make the wet soil around it live. Keep everyone out of that field and call 1912.
• Lightning kills more farmers than any electrical fault. Leave the field when the first thunder is heard, not when the rain starts.

Our guide to farm IP sets covers starters, capacitors and the rules for pump connections.

Construction sites in the rain

A house under construction is wet ground, steel rods, extension cables and workers in bare feet. If you are building through the monsoon, check that the site board is above ground, closed and fitted with a 30 mA RCCB, that the board has its own earth pit, and that no cable joint lies in a puddle. Keep the mixer and curing pump cables away from standing water and shut the board at the end of each day. Our guide to temporary connections for construction describes a safe site board in detail.

Protecting the building and your appliances from lightning

A roof lightning protection system and a surge protection device in the DB do two different jobs: the first protects the building from a direct strike, the second protects wiring and appliances from surges. Many houses need both, while a low house surrounded by taller buildings may need little. A risk assessment under IS/IEC 62305 decides. Our detailed guide to lightning protection for houses and farms explains the parts, the Sidilu alert app and what to do in the open.

Lightning protection

Open fields, tall buildings, water tanks and towers are most at risk. A lightning protection system to IS/IEC 62305, with air terminals, down conductors and dedicated earth pits, protects the structure. Farmers caught in the open should avoid standing under isolated trees and crouch low with feet together.

Questions

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