Wet basement

Well, I've had some motivation to get on with my basement clean up. Yup, although it was a perfectly sunny day yesterday, we found our basement walls seeping water that eventually flowed over to the carpeted area. The carpet didn't feel wet, but the squish, squish sound when we walked over it was a dead giveaway. So I called Rob and he came home from work. We managed to empty the room within a matter of minutes and were able to get everything off the floor in the unfinished area (where there are puddles). Rob vacuumed up the water and then ripped out the carpet and padding (which was soaked) from half of the finished area.

This is where the carpet used to be.

The water is still slowly seeping in as I type and it looks like it's going to be an ongoing battle with the wet/dry vac until the ground dries out a little. So let's hope for no more rain! We are really not sure what to do next...I called the insurance company and they said that our policy does not cover this type of water damage (when the water comes in through the foundation). We have to decide whether we want to:

a. replace the carpet and have the wet/dry vac ready when we get a lot of rain

b. get a professional in here to recommend fixes to prevent water from coming in at all

c. do nothing and live with an unfinished basement

Any advice would be most welcome!