If a pipe has burst, shut the water off at the stopcock immediately — usually under the kitchen sink, turned clockwise. Then open your cold taps to drain the system, switch off electrics at the consumer unit if water is anywhere near sockets or wiring and you can reach it safely, and call 020 4577 2888 to be connected with a local plumber. The order matters: water off first, everything else second.
Stop the water
Go straight to your stopcock and turn it clockwise until it stops. In most homes around Omagh it's under the kitchen sink where the mains pipe rises out of the floor; in older properties — and West Tyrone has plenty of mixed-era terraces and farmhouses — check under the stairs, the utility room or garage. If the valve is seized solid, don't wrench it until it snaps. Use the external stop valve under the small cover near your property boundary instead, and mention the seized stopcock when you call.
Step 2Drain the pressure out
With the stopcock closed, open the cold taps in the kitchen and bathroom and let them run until they stop. This empties the pipework and takes the pressure off the split, which slows the leak from a spray to a dribble.
Step 3Make it electrically safe
Water and wiring are a worse emergency than water alone. If the leak is near sockets, light fittings or the fuse board, keep everyone clear, and switch the electrics off at the consumer unit if you can reach it without stepping through water. If you can't do that safely, leave it — a wet carpet is replaceable.
Step 4Protect what you can, then call
Switch off the boiler and any immersion heater fed by the damaged pipework, move valuables out of the wet area, and put a bucket under active drips. Then ring 020 4577 2888. Be ready to say where you are — a drive to Omagh town centre is not the same as a run out to Carrickmore, Gortin or Trillick, and rural distances honestly do affect how soon someone arrives.
Frozen, but not burst yet?
West Tyrone's damp, cold winters make frozen pipework a recurring problem, particularly in lofts, on external walls, and in the exposed runs found in sheds and older outbuildings. If a tap slows to a trickle in a cold snap, shut the stopcock as a precaution and thaw the pipe gently — hot water bottle, warm (not boiling) water, or a hairdryer on low. Never a flame or blowtorch. Hear water running with every tap off, or see damp patches spreading? The pipe has likely already split: keep the water off and treat it as a burst.
Your pipe, or the mains?
A useful rule of thumb: pipework inside your property boundary is generally the homeowner's responsibility and a plumber's job, while the mains out in the road belongs to the water company. Water surfacing in the street usually needs reporting to the supplier rather than a private call-out. Can't tell which side of the boundary the problem sits on? Say so when you call — it's a common question.