The back yard of Conrad and Margaret Teske含羞草研究社檚 home on Nixon Road shows the damages from this spring含羞草研究社檚 flooding conditions on Okanagan Lake.

Two sandbag dikes are in place, one at the water含羞草研究社檚 edge and one closer to the house.

Pumps are running and the back yard is now swampy and muddy. The dock has been destroyed.

The house, however, has fared well during the flooding.

The Teskes have had water in their crawl space and in one back room, but the house has not had problems from the flooding.

含羞草研究社淲e haven含羞草研究社檛 had any real damage to the cabin,含羞草研究社� Conrad Teske said.

In May, the Teskes set up 240 sandbags, but this dike was not enough to protect the property from a storm.

Later, they talked with Ken Sewell of Summerland Builders Mart, who told them to build a sandbag wall close to their home.

Sewell delivered the sand and the sandbags for this project.

Volunteers, including Craig Bloom of Nailed It Projects and his crew, have helped to create a larger dike at the property. This dike was made using thousands of sandbags.

At present, there are two dikes in place. The first, at the edge of the property, is intended as a breakwater. The second is to keep water from entering the house.

Conrad Teske wishes the province had taken earlier measures to control the water level in Okanagan Lake.

He said if the lake level had been lowered earlier, the damage to his property and other lakefront properties could have been minimized or avoided.

含羞草研究社淭his is a manmade catastrophe,含羞草研究社� he said. 含羞草研究社淭his is billions of dollars of damages.含羞草研究社�

Margaret Teske also wonders why the lake was not lowered.

含羞草研究社淲hen you含羞草研究社檝e got water this high in December, you know there are going to be problems,含羞草研究社� she said.

The Teske home is lower than the properties on either side, and as a result, they have been concerned with the rising lake levels.

This year, before the snow melt began, the water level was higher and the expanse of beach was smaller than in previous years, they said.

Margaret Teske said volunteers from the community have helped to protect the home.

含羞草研究社淚 just can含羞草研究社檛 express our appreciation,含羞草研究社� she said. 含羞草研究社淭he volunteers are the silver lining in all this. They含羞草研究社檝e just reinforced my vision of what humanity can do.含羞草研究社�