What to do and what not to do when you have a sewage back-flow flood

If you are affected by a sewage back-flow you have to stop the electricity in the basement, including the furnace. This will stop or minimize spreading the smell in the whole house and would make your stay in the house more acceptable. A wet towel should be placed in plastic bags and properly sealed so they won't leak water on the floor or infiltrate  in the door and use it to block the airflow from under the basement door.

You can use painting tape to seal the basement door all around.

Before sealing the basement door, make sure you are removing any value item from the basement as the sewage contaminated water may damage it.

If you are not sure of where the electrical circuits designated for furnace and basement are positioned, please call a specialist plumber in sewage back-flow to advise and help with the sewage back-flow situation.

Under any circumstance do not walk through the flooded basement without insulated rubber boots and a respiratory mask as you could be exposed to various life threatening hazard like electrical shock, contact respiratory disease through aero bacteria contamination, concussions due to slip and fall and other.

As many sewage back-flow  incidents occur  every year, mostly in the spring and autumn, city authorities decided to introduce the backwater valve as mandatory in the new constructions and to stop building garages under the street level as to avoid large volume of water to enter the house. Another measure meant to avoid extensive water damage or to minimize the effect of a water flooding scenario is to install water drainage pit in the basement to pump outside the water that infiltrates under the house. Should the water level raises over the limit, the sump  water pump would start automatically and restore a safe water level in the sump pit, though avoiding rain drained watter or phreatic water level to overflow in your basement.

Keep in mind that when large rain water floods the streets there might be a power outage too that might render your pump nonfunctional that ultimately leads to basement flood.

Install an UPS - Uninterpretable Power System to ensure your sump pump will work for at least an hour or two, the more the safer.