from the lake '' Zowin and his wife , Kathy , have owned Lake Delton Watersports for almost three decades . In addition to running a marina , the couple offers parasail rides and rents boats . Personal watercraft and ski boats are their most popular wares , he said . `` My gross income will be reduced by about 75 percent , and that 's huge , '' he said Wednesday . `` It 's a big step backwards for someone who 's been in business for 29 years . '' Zowin , 56 , says that most of the tourists hail from metropolises like Chicago , Illinois ; St. Paul/Minneapolis , Minnesota ; and Madison and Milwaukee , Wisconsin -- all `` within a gas tank of the Dells . '' They start trickling in on Father 's Day , and tourism booms between Independence Day and mid-August , he said . Like many business owners around Lake Delton , Zowin is seeing canceled reservations from disenchanted visitors who will be spending their summers elsewhere . Asked whether visitors were canceling reservations at her lakeside resort , one owner who did n't want to give her name replied
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- When the water of Lake Delton ripped through the highway and drained into the Wisconsin River this week , so did the lifeline for much of the surrounding community . Boats sit mired in mud Tuesday after Lake Delton drained into the Wisconsin River the day before . Lake Delton Village and Wisconsin Dells , the self-professed `` waterpark capital of the world , '' are home to about 5,000 residents . But the area 's motels , resorts and vacation homes can accommodate more than 10 times that , according to the visitors bureau . Innkeepers , restaurateurs and other business owners were getting ready for the typically bustling tourist season this week when torrential rains sent the 267-acre lake rushing through an embankment propping up Highway A . The manmade lake sucked a 200-foot swath of highway and a half-dozen homes into the Wisconsin with it . `` I was on the water when I realized the plug had been pulled , '' said Steve Zowin , who was towing a capsized pontoon boat when he noticed the water level quickly diminishing . `` It drained like a bathtub . '' Watch a report