We have a drain in an outside stairwell. I know in the past when it has backed up and totally flooded the baseement, my parents had roto rooter come out and clean the drain, and everything would be fine. We have owned the house for 3 years now and the first time it flooded was about a month ago following days and days of very hard rain. When we went outside we could see that the drain was covered with leaves etc. When we moved those everything began to drain immediately. A few weeks later, it backed up again. This time the water was standing above the drain and wouldn't move. Roto rooter came and out and snaked the drain twice and it didn't help at all. Several hours later, the water was not standing in the drain and eventually all of the water went down.

The most recent occurrence resulted in a backed up drain again, that would not drain on its own. We rented a pump to get the water out of the basement. A day or so later, the water that was still standing in the drain went down on its own again. We then went and bought a tarp and covered the stairwell so no more rain could get to the drain until we had time to figure out what is going on and what we could do.

Well, it is raining right now, the tarp is secure, and there is still water coming up in the drain I guess. My basement is currently getting flooded again!! Roto rooter could not tell me where the line ended and said we should do either a camera or jet the line. Any advice on what we should do? This would be really appreciated.

Unfortunately, that is a constant issue with basements that have a stairwell. Water doesn't run up and if you have a high water table, a hole in the line will cause water to enter tat way. It appears that there is a hole, a separation or blockage further down the line since the water eventually drains out. Many people install covers, BILCO is one, to keep RAIN water out. They will not prevent water backup. You need to do some furher research to get the drain issue settled.

So I have the tarp over the stairwell, and obviously the water is backing up in the drain. Can I seal the drain too? I think I really want to have someone fill in the stairwell and totally get rid of the stairs, door etc. But could I do the other temporarily?

If you know for a fact that the water is backing up and not seeping through the walls, you can seal the drain. At this point, I would make sure it is only coming through the drain. Sealing up the door is no easy task either. Are the walls brick or block or another material? Do the stairs come straight out or turn after leaving the doorway? http://www.bilco.com/