This day is off to a bad start

That really sucks. :(

Edit: the FIRST thing you do is to contact your insurance company, ASAP. Hopefully you have homeowners insurance that might cover it - get an inspector out as fast as you can, and be persistent about it.

What they would do would be inspect it, send out a company to dry out any water flooding (if necessary), and then send out one of the plumbers they contract through to (theoretically) fix it. 

You really want to get a licensed plumber out ASAP - make sure it's a really, really good one, too. You will of course need to replace the drywall in the ceiling, and may need to replace some of the wood as well if it was overly damaged by the water (but that's less likely). You also will need to take preventative drying measures to make sure no mold or anything takes hold, particularly in the walls/floors/ceiling. This will be a semi-big deal if you ever sell the house, sorry to break it to you - people are really afraid of toxic mold spores these days.

Last summer I had a similar problem - turns out the pipes underneath the toilet were leaking. The first plumber I had out (sent through the insurance company) just reset the toilet and resealed it where it went into the floor, then said it was fine. I was skeptical so, on the advice of my real estate agent, got a second opinion. The second plumber opened things up and saw pipe damage all underneath the toilet that had to be replaced, or the leakage would have gotten even worse.

Basically, just make sure you have someone really, really good come out to fix it, and make sure to be very, very thorough. This is NOT a place to cut corners, because if not fixed right the first time, it can really suck down the road. :(

I'm sorry to hear about your bad day... that really sounds awful. Let me know if I can help at all with the plumbing stuff. 

Does this sound like something I could file a homeowners insurance claim for? I'm thinking at this point there is something going on besides the overflowing, since the hole in the ceiling opened up in a matter of minutes, I'm wondering if there was already leaking and some unseen damage. I just re-read that you did use your insurance company...hopefully I can, because I have zero money right now.

The thing with the insurance - or, at least, my insurance - is that it has to be a "sudden" accident. In my case, insurance did NOT cover it because it was an over-time leak (only reason I didn't know about it was because I wasn't living in the house at the time and the tenant neglected to tell me of the large hole opening up over the ceiling... nice, huh?). In your case, it sounds like it might be a more sudden, one-time thing that very likely could be covered by insurance. When you talk to them, do make sure you ask about what happens if the plumber they send out does a shoddy job, though - I don't know if it's law or not, but IMO if they tell you which plumber you have to use, the insurance company ought to be responsible if the guy flubs up. 

What a crappy morning!  Hopefully the day can't get any worse.  Maybe take a long walk with the dogs later to get outside and away from the morning.

And how odd that we should both have ceiling issues.  During the rain a few days ago, DH noticed a bubble forming in the ceiling that adjoins our dining room skylight.  Sure enough, water started leaking out of it, grrr.  We have to get in touch with our insurance company about it too.  I hope that your insurance company covers your ceiling damage, as it does sound like it might be a sudden incident.

 You might also want to look into water and sewer back up coverage.  For my homeowner's, it wouldn't cover things like that unless I had the rider.  Many years ago in a rental house, we had a water hose to the washer bust.  Once I started thinking about the possibilities, I called and asked the insurance company about it.  That's how I learned about the rider and what would and wouldn't be covered.  It's not very much per year (I think  it's about $50) and so worth it.  It covered me when my dishwasher overflowed and damaged my kitchen floor.
 

Awhile back my refrigerator leaked on a wood floor.  It was "over time" damage because we didn't know anything was leaking until the floor started to buckle in front of the dishwasher.  I got a plumber in first thing to find out which appliance was leaking and replaced the fridge ... then the insurance company, without any hassles at all, replaced 700 sq. ft. of solid oak flooring (kitchen, dining room, entry and family room) because the floor was 18 years old and it couldn't be matched any more. The flooring in those four areas is continuous so they pretty much had to re-do all of it.

Joyce

The fridge leak happened to my best friend just like a week or two ago...leaked through the floor of her kitchen into her finished basement. From what I know the only thing the insurance company gave her a hard time about was replacing the basement carpet. They said they'd replace the pad and put the old carpet back down on it, which she thought was pretty gross, so she's doing the carpet herself.

Anyway, the rest of the day was fine, I even took a two hour nap. I'll let you guys know what I find out about the overflow situation.

2shelties

The fridge leak happened to my best friend just like a week or two ago...leaked through the floor of her kitchen into her finished basement. From what I know the only thing the insurance company gave her a hard time about was replacing the basement carpet. They said they'd replace the pad and put the old carpet back down on it, which she thought was pretty gross, so she's doing the carpet herself.

That's pretty crappy.  Most people with homeowners insurance go for years and years without filing a claim, so you'd think when they do, they'd get the help they need.  Isn't that what those hefty premiums are supposed to be for? Maybe your friend should look into a different insurance company after she gets this taken care of.

Joyce