Flooded basement help/advice please.

Diane · Mar 11, 2015

My basement is flooded. The whole damn thing. There is water everywhere from 1/2 inch to almost 2 inches.

I have some freezers down there, but one of them is actually on an extension cord. The plug-in part connection part to the extension cord is not in the water, but the cord part is.

How dangerous is this? I want to unplug it, but I'll be honest, I'm afraid to. I'm also afraid to start bailing with it still plugged in.

Advice?

"J" · Mar 11, 2015

Call your fire dept they should have a junk pump and will pump it out... They do up here... If not call the power co too pull the meter so you can go down there and disconnect things.... Sorry too hear of this.... Is there a sump pump down there?

Diane · Mar 11, 2015

No sump pump. Years ago it didn't get wet, but the past few years it started doing some flooding during very heavy rains and now the ice-snow melt. I think (maybe) some drainage ditches have filed in over the years.

"J" · Mar 11, 2015

Township/county should be cleaning those out periodically, might want too contact them as well this spring after the thaw....

Buckmaster · Mar 11, 2015

Too dangerous, call the Fire Dept.

In my grade school years one of my classmates Mother died while trying to unplug the appliances in their flooded basement.

Have the snakes been flushed out of the basement and upstairs yet?

Milo · Mar 11, 2015

throw a cat in the water..

Diane · Mar 11, 2015

I thought about the snake last night! I decided it must have moved on as it has not reared his ugly head! Ok, I'll finish re-arranging dogs (I had several downstairs) and then start making some phone calls.

Thanks guys, I didn't know what to do or who to call. This gives me a starting point.

Diane · Mar 11, 2015

Milo said:
throw a cat in the water..

All I had was a snake and I don't see his body anywhere!

Milo · Mar 11, 2015

Diane said:
All I had was a snake and I don't see his body anywhere!

heck head to the human society and grab one...cheapest way to check

Diane · Mar 11, 2015

Milo said:
heck head to the human society and grab one...cheapest way to check

I've been walking down there, but then it dawned on me, that probably wasn't absolutely safe to do so.

Diane · Mar 11, 2015

"J" said:
Township/county should be cleaning those out periodically, might want too contact them as well this spring after the thaw....

I lost my post once. Anyway......that would be on me, the old drainage ditches I believe were behind my house, which sits at the bottom of a hill. When I first moved here, I could see an indention that ran behind my house over into the side yard. I probably need to dig a trench and put gravel and pipe in it.

"J" · Mar 11, 2015

Did you contact the fire dept too ask if they have a junk pump too pump out the water? I live in the city and our fire dept does it if there's no calls for them for fires/life flights....

"J" · Mar 11, 2015

Milo said:
throw a cat in the water..

Kevin's got a small dog he don't like..... Just sayin.....

Quantum673 · Mar 11, 2015

Probably a stupid question but is your breaker box downstairs? If it is upstairs all you would have to do is flip the main breaker then you can go downstairs.

Diane · Mar 11, 2015

The breaker box is also downstairs, of course.

Diane · Mar 11, 2015

The power company said they could disconnect the power for $50, but weren't sure when. The fire department told me to go down and simply unplug the outlets since it was only 2 inches of water, so that is what we did.

Dustinb80 · Mar 11, 2015

That's a bad birthday gift. Happy birthday.

Diane · Mar 11, 2015

Thanks, Dustin!

Unfortunately, the pump thingy my kids went and bought me last night is not working. It worked for an hour or so, then nothing. I left it unplugged a few hours, tried again and still nothing.

And the shop vac is too big for me to dump when it's full (which is in under 2 minutes), so I'm bailing water with a cup until Allison gets here later to run the shop vac.

This will definitely be one of my more memorable birthdays!

hickslawns · Mar 11, 2015

Good luck Diane. Doesn't sound like fun. Was doing the same thing last night around my buildings. Divert water to avoid it getting inside.

MK111 · Mar 11, 2015

Happy birthday and lots of luck. Have someone put in a sump pump pit and get a sump pump that pumps up hill so it can pump out in the future. Only way to prevent future flooding.

Flooded basement help/advice please.

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