Crews have been working in recent days to batten down the hatches along the lakeshore in Penticton.

Emergency crews fought this fight last year with high water on the lake, which has proved to be an advantage for getting prepared this year.

At the Red Wing development on Penticton Indian Band land, crews will be installing tiger dams across the beach over the weekend.

PIB emergency program coordinator Dale Kronebusch says staff know where to put the dams and sandbags based on last year’s high water.

Okanagan Lake is expected to rise to 343 metres, which is below its peak in 2017.

"We know exactly where the water came last year and where the low-lying spots are, and that's what we're hoping to combat against this year. So we don't have any slippage or any water slipping behind it."

Within city limits, Gabion baskets filled with sand have been put up for 1300 metres along Okanagan Lake.

Penticton Fire Chief Larry Watkinson says the amount of sand fortifying the shoreline is at least six times the amount of sand that was used last year.

And it was all put up in two days as opposed to the six weeks crews spent sandbagging last spring.

While efficient, Watkinson says the baskets will also be effective for wave protection against windstorms.

"They're going to stand up to those waves without even a blink of an eye, they'll hold up. So basically we don't have to go back and re-armour every day after a storm, which we saw a lot of last spring."

All the reinforcements mean the beaches on Okanagan Lake are closed until further notice.

However, on the south side of town, Skaha and Sudbury Beaches are open and were cleaned up nicely just before the long weekend.