By ANN ALLEN
Indiana Correspondent

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The floods ravaging much of Indiana are not limited to farm fields. Home basements have suddenly taken on the appearance of unwanted indoor swimming pools, creating panic and undue haste in pumping them dry.
However, according to Steve Cain, Purdue University extension disaster communications specialist, pumping a basement too soon could ruin the entire structure of a house.
“If water is drained too fast, cellar walls, floors and the foundation of the house could collapse,” he said. “It is important to drain water slowly to equalize pressure on both sides of the walls.”
Even after the flood has receded, water still in the ground could be pushing hard against the outside of basement walls, he cautioned.
“The water in your basement is pushing back. If the basement is drained faster than groundwater is draining, the outside pressure will be greater than the inside pressure and could cause serious structural damage,” he said.
He gives the following tips for pumping water from basements:
•Begin pumping when floodwaters no long cover the ground outside.
•Pump water away from the home to avoid back pressure.
•Pump out one foot of water, mark the water level and wait overnight.
•Check the water level the next day. If it went up and covered the mark, it is still too early to drain the basement.
•Wait 24 hours and pump the water down one foot again. Check the level the next day.
•When water stops returning to the mark, pump out two to three feet and wait overnight.
Repeat these steps daily until all the water is drained out of the basement. Cain further recommends contacting a reputable contractor after the house is drained and cleaned. “It is important to know the walls are safe,” he said. “If they collapse, it would cost more to rebuild them than the cost of the cleanup after the flood.”
Additional flood recovery information is available in Purdue extension’s publication First Steps to Flood Recovery, available at county extension offices, by calling the Purdue hotline at 888-EST-INFO (398-4636) or online at www.ces.purdue.edu/floodpub/index.html