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People looking forward to taking out the boat or going to the beach at Mainprize Regional Park will have to put those plans on hold for a while.

"We just put $30,000 into the beach and now it's under six to eight feet of water," said Allan Clarke, the park manager. "The boat launch is completely underwater. It's probably about 10 feet of water."

"Financially it's going to hurt the park that's for sure," said Fred Morrice, the acting board chairman for Mainprize. "We sandbagged everything (554m above sea level). This is all new to us so there are many concerns. Our biggest concern is how long is this going to last."

The beach and boat launch can potentially be underwater for the rest of the season. Some of the picnic shacks on the beach have water at their roofs. Other parts of the park, such as the golf course and a majority of the campgrounds, are not expected to be in any serious danger from the flooding.

"There are likely going to be six to eight cabins that will have their lawns completely ruined," said Clarke. "They are sandbagged, but the water is lapping at the dikes."

The flooding is a result of the high amounts of precipitation last year. The high amount of rain left the ground saturated in the fall, and this added to the normal spring runoff. The late snowstorm received during the April 30 weekend further added to the runoff.

Currently the flood levels at the Rafferty reservoir are at 553.933m. The maximum flood capacity is 554m, while the normal maximum water level is 550.5m. "We are not yet matching in-flows to out-flows. Once maximum flood levels are reached out-flows will have to be matched with in-flows," said Clinton Molde, manager of southern regional operations with the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority.

The wind is blowing water levels up higher in some areas, and is making the flood conditions at Mainprize worse. Molde explained that until in-flows and out-flows can be matched, dikes will remain in place at Mainprize Park to ward off the flood.

To combat the flooding in the park 300 yards of clay have been shipped in to provide additional support to approximately 1,800 sandbags. Residents and workers have helped fill sandbags and supply tools to move clay, including a backhoe.

"It's been a real community effort from everyone here at the park," said Clarke.

The situation at Mainprize is one of the latest examples of how flooding has been a cause for concern. "People need to be careful around fast moving water and if there is a risk of flooding they should take measures to protect themselves and their property," said Molde.