Before You Enter a Flooded Basement conduct the following steps to keep you safe. 

Turn off the electricity and gas.  Check outside cellar walls for possible cave-ins, evidence of structural damage, or other hazards.  Open doors and windows.  If you need to pump the water out of your basement, do so in stages. Remove no more than one-third of the water each day. Water in the basement helps brace the walls against the extra pressure of water-logged soil outside. If water is pumped out too soon, walls may be pushed in or floors pushed up.  Whatever is in the flooded basement has already been damaged. Pumping water from the basement too quickly may do more damage than letting the floodwater remain.

As a safety precaution, do not use an electric pump powered by your own electrical system. Use a gas powered pump or one connected to an outside line. Fire departments in some communities may help with such services.

Learn more at your local extension office, or online at https://extension.wvu.edu/community-business-safety/disaster-preparedness/flooding