Goedjn wrote:

Does the cement run right up against the house

yes

or is there
someplace you can intercept the water with a drainage trench
before it gets to you? Is there any low spot to dump the
water using gravity,

The street would be the low spot (but not lower than the basement
floor). I would have to brake the concrete and some asphalt next to
the house, and then run the drains around the house and onto the
street. Looks doable, but porobably expensive too. But I am starting
to think this needs to be done before anything inside is done, since
it looks more logical to reduce amount of water comming into the
basement than to pump it out when it's already there...

or are you going to have to
pump it whatever you do. If you dump the water into the street,
where does it go after that?

down the street and into the sewer

Arkadiy