After witnessing the destruction caused by heavy winds and high waters in Delta Beach and Twin Lakes Beach, the people of Lundar Beach are in panic mode.
The community is located only 60 kilometers north of the Twin Lakes Beach disaster zone and while they were fortunate enough to escape Tuesday’s weather bomb, people there know it’s just a matter of time before the same hits them.
"If a six-foot wave comes and there’s nothing to stop it, it’s going to come right through the windows," said Lundar Beach resident Carl Erickson.
Erickson dreamed of spending his retirement at Lundar Beach but now he fights to keep his home standing.
"We’ve got hay bales to break the wave,” said Erickson. “We’ve got a rock reef up front.”
Last week, a massive wind storm destroyed hundreds of cottages and homes at Delta and Twin Lakes Beaches. Erickson along with other Lundar Beach residents consider themselves lucky. But the lake is just meters from their homes and with a powerful wind storm, their luck could run out. So all weekend, officials with the Rural Municipality of Coldwell were busy building a four-foot high clay dike along the lake front.
"There’s no chance we’d survive without the clay dike," said Erickson.
But despite a call for volunteers, only a handful of owners were out Sunday raising sandbag dikes and they’re getting tired as the fight has gone on for more than a month.
The municipality needs volunteers to help sandbag for Monday and Tuesday with the crest now projected to be higher and last longer than first thought.
The new clay dike may be their only saving grace.
"We just knew if we didn’t, it was going to be trouble," said RM of Coldwell Reeve Brian Sigfusson.
The three mile long dike is expected to cost the municipality more than $100,000 – money they don’t have.
Officials say it’s a gamble because they don’t know when the lake will stop rising or if the dike will even be high enough.
"The government is going to have to come up with some money," said Sigfusson. "We, as an RM, can’t afford it. We’re doing it but on the pretense that were going to get paid."
The province said it would cover permanent measures like clay dikes.
But the uncertainty of the lake has Erickson unsure of his future here.
"If they project another foot, I’m taking everything out of here," said Erickson.
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