Torrential rains last Aug. Basement had just had new drywalls and new carpeting installed the year before. We need a sump pump, had had a problem many years beforee, so we also had a battery back-up pump installed so if the power went off again, things were okay. NOT! The main pump failed, power didn't go off so backup didn"T go on, results 4 inches of water covered the entire basement floor. Insurance covered most of the loss, but somethings even insurance can't replace. I had two handpieced quilts in a metal trunk , they were made by my grandmother and weren?t in great shape but I was going to use them to make smaller items. The clean up people carrierd the trunk outside and when it was opened, everything in it was covered in terrible black mold, looked like a fire had burned it. I was so upset about ther flooding, I didn'T even think about what was in that trunk, so it got pitched. Only later did I realixze. Also, my featherweight was sitting in it's case on the floor, yep, water in that also. No damage to the machine, but the case now is nice and moldy smelling, before it wasn't like that . Still trying to figure out how to make it smell okay again. Had many books and old record albums, old 78 records that were colletor items , all ruinned. My advice, if you use the basement for anything, store in plastic tubs and make sure they don't have any small cracks in them, and keep everything up high on shelves!! Don"t have anything sitting right on the floor if it is important to keep!!