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Be careful in how you clean the mess up. The water that is in your basement is not simply rainwater. It contains effluent - which means very high levels of bacteria and other microorganisms. Whatever you do don't let any kids down there to play!

There are many ways that you and your neighbors can address sewage overflows through landscaping. Low impact development is one of the number one flood prevention techniques being used in Chicago these days, as you know. Things like vegetated swales, rain gardens, pavers, permeable pavement, rain barrels, and rooftop gardens all help prevent flooding (in addition to cleaning the water through infiltration).

i too would be very careful about simply trying vinegar as a way to clean this mess up. if you actually got sewage in your basement, you'll probably need to use something with more oomph.

i know you're trying to stay away from chemicals, but i recall my parents cleaning up their basement a bunch of times in the 80s and 90s (thanks deep tunnel!) with bleach first, then lysol. i don't know what else is equally effective, but less chemical-laden.

thanks for the advice everyone. Good to know about the "effluent" water. I have had massive allergies for the past week - probably related to the change in weather...but also related to the basement (since I seem to be better when I'm not at home). Will try the suggestions...and also - might have to resort to bleach given that I'm worried about all of that bacteria hanging around.

actually- there were some interesting products featured in the links above for those looking for the same thing...
www.omni-zorb.com had a biodegradable, hypo-allergenic, chemical free cleaning solution...so I'll try that.

Sorry, but for sewer contamination you need industrial strength disinfectant in my opinion.

I'd consider it an emergency and break out the bleach, myself.

You could literally be risking your life by not doing a rigorous cleanup. This is one time where I don't think being politically correct is even a remote consideration.

Oh, and consider a class action lawsuit to get the city to pay for the clean-up. I think you need a lawyer.

Good luck!

Why not contact the "sewer" department and ask them?

also, didn't everyone's basement flood over a week or two ago? waiting to clean up that kind of mess is asking for a lot more problems -- you could have all kinds of mold taking root, let alone the bacteria from the sewage multiplying. i'm sure this is the source of most of your allergies, not so much the weather since then.

Call the professionals!! This is a serious health risking situation a casual or even more rigorous homeowner cleanup will not ensure no latent effects to come back to haunt you and your family.

I cannot give you any hints on how to clean up your basement, but from my past living in Chicago in Evanston, I will guess that the sewage came up through a drain in the floor. Most older buildings have one. Do you have a sink in the basement? If you take a piece of PVC tubing and glue or caulk it into the drain in your floor... any sewage that wants to fill your basement floor will be redirected to the sink via burnulli's principle. The tube should be three to four feet tall. Whatever is higher than your sink. My mom did this in our basement after we had sewage fill it up after a bad storm fifteen years ago. There has never been a problem since. The pipe is a pain to move around, but it will help out a lot in the long run. Trust me.

thanks - i really appreciate all of the suggestions - especially the last one about preventing it for future rainstorms.

Ah, but be careful of blocking out a drain in the floor! My building's laundry room flooded in this recent storm because we had a pipe installed to drained our drippy AC overflow into the laundry room floor drain. For the most part, we had drain sealed off so when the rainwater came in under the door, it had nowhere to go.

It really does seem like you can plan for either flooding or sewage overflow but not both.

That 4' pipe is called a "stand pipe" - you can google more about it. But it's true, most local codes require them to be removable because that drain in the floor is what prevents your basement from flooding when you have a water leak. However, it is almost impossible to make a stand pipe water tight when it has to be removable.

Since my basement floods with local sewage about once a year, I have explored this option pretty seriously and I can't make it work. It appears that my (rather expensive) option is to dig up the sewer line and have a backflow or check valve installed. Not happy about this.

oh, and with sewage backup, go with bleach cleanup.