AUBURN, Wash. -- Flood waters released from a local dam without warning destroyed a man's Auburn farmland Thursday.

Owner Burr Mosby arrived Thursday to find a large portion of his 300-acre Mosby Brothers Farm completely flooded. Mosby is a vegetable grower.

The water came from the Green River after the Army Corps of Engineers opened the Howard Hansen Dam. The water was released to free up reserve space in the dam because warm weather is expected to melt the record snowpack from the winter.

"They should have been dumping this weeks ago instead of last night," said Mosby. The farmer said he was planning to plant the flooded 64 acres on the day he discovered the flooding.

Mosby said the flooding could prevent him from growing millions of pounds of zucchini that would be sold at local stores such as Safeway and QFC.

"This is going to cost us a couple hundred thousand dollars in gross receipts," said Mosby.

Mosby said that in his 18 years of farming, he's realized that he has to battle the elements but he shouldn't have to fight those who manage the river.