MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) –At Big Sandy Lake, the water is up 6 feet, 6 inches and it’s still rising.

The lake can’t drain into the Mississippi River as it usually does, because the river is swollen from last week’s storms.

That leaves 25 percent of the cabins – about 250 lake homes – battling the deluge. The water will only continue to climb until it crests on Friday.

Jeff Peterson had been looking forward to a week at the family cabin on Big Sandy, especially after being forced from his Colorado home.

“Our home in Colorado Springs is evacuated right now because of the fires,” Peterson said. “So we couldn’t be down there anyway, so we came here. I’d rather deal with a flood than a fire.”

But instead of playing on the lake, Peterson’s waist deep in dirty water with a badly flooded basement. Seven inches of rain last week has pushed the lake to unheard of levels.

Scott Ecker was anticipating the first summer in his family’s newly built lake home. Instead, he’s slogging around in chest waders — watching and waiting.

Like everyone on Big Sandy, he’s worried that the water they so enjoy is tragically becoming their worst enemy.

“We need a good dry spell,” Ecker said.