Getting power turned on in a flooded basement

[Jon Graham]

We recently flipped a house and had quite a time trying to get the power turned on. I'm curious if anyone has had a similar situation and how you resolved it.

When we purchased the property the power was off and the basement was flooded. To get power turned on the town required an electrical inspection. The inspector would not inspect unless the basement was drained since the box was downstairs. We rented a gas powered pump to empty the basement but the inspector would not give us an accurate time and we couldn't get him there before the basement flooded again. Since the power was off it was difficult to keep the basement drained. 

We ended up just having to pay someone to park there all day for a couple days until the inspector showed up. It was a huge hassle and held up the entire project for an extra week. 

Just curious if this happens often and if there is some fix I'm not thinking of.