ORANGE COUNTY, Ind. (WDRB) -- The beaches are flooded at Patoka Lake in Southern Indiana, and employees there say they likely won't be back open until September.
The water level is twelve feet above normal.
Signs at the entrance and locked gates near the beaches are warning Patoka Lake's visitor's that there will be no swimming.
"There's no beach to swim. We're at the beach and there's no sand in sight so yeah there's no swimming unless you're on a boat,” said Dana Reckelhoff, an interpretative naturalist.
Underneath all the water is a parking lot, a sandy beach, some picnic tables and a volleyball net.
Reckelhoff says flooding is something they expect in the spring, but not the summer.
“Right around 4th of July, well as you can see now, it's only gotten worse since then because of all the rain we've had,” she said.
She says the flooding also caused them to close a fisherman's pier.
"It's difficult for us because we want people to be able to come here and enjoy recreation and enjoy themselves and be able to swim but at the same time, their safety is our number one concern,” she said.
Reckelhoff says as long as we don't get a lot more rain, the water should start to recede but they don't expect to be able to reopen the beach anytime soon.
"Usually when the water gets this high, as the water recedes, it drags the sand with it so we'll either have to pull the sand from the bottom or we will have to bring in completely new sand,” she said.
Because of the flooding, park officials are having to move some summer events to the nature center.
It also might impact a triathlon being hosted there next month.
“That may mean if the water doesn't go down we will have to cut that portion of the race out and make it into just a bike and a run event,” she said.
Stay up to date on the status of the beach here.
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