Gmail account disabled

One thing I did not realize until today is how much my daily life depends on Gmail. Because of the all the computer problems I had recently, I lost all my emails that I saved in Outlook and Entourage. But that was not a big deal because all my emails accounts are automatically forwarded to my Gmail account, so I have a back-up there.

Today I decided to reinstall Outlook on my laptop and Mail (not Entourage this time) on my Apple. I set up the Gmail pop3 account settings on both machines and let them run to download all my mails. At the same time I was using the Gmail on the web to write and answer emails. When a new email came in I clicked on it, and suddenly my screen read “Lockdown in sector 4!” and then: Our system indicates unusual usage of your account. In order to protect Gmail users from potentially harmful use of Gmail, this account has been disabled for up to 24 hours.

What happened? I guess I was downloading too much data, and they suspected abuse. But can they just shut down my mail without any warning? And is downloading information from Gmail to a mail client not something standard? I contacted them directly (they have a special email account for this), and got an automated reply back with several questions. I answered those right away, but have not heard from them since, which is about 4 or 5 hours ag0. This is giving me a serious headache, because I have no back-up whatsoever now. And what will happen when I manage to access my account again tomorrow? If I continue to download my files, will they disable my account completely?