River Murray shack owners warned to brace for flooding

Water levels are rising to their highest point in years and it’s sparked inundation warnings for communities all the way down to the lower reaches.

River Murray shack owners are preparing for potential flooding as the river reaches its highest level in more than a half a decade – and it is tipped to rise even higher.

The State Emergency Service (SASES) is warning shacks between Cadell and Mannum – which includes Morgan, Brenda Park, Scotts Creek, Walker Flat and Bowhill – could be inundated.

There are already reports of some campsites as well as infrastructure such as boardwalks, paved walkways, boat ramps and roads being under water while irrigators are also moving pumps to higher ground.

Murray River at Lock 5 near Renmark in 2016. Picture: Grant Schwartzkopff

Environment and Water Department water delivery manager Chrissie Bloss said river flows were the highest since 2016, peaking at the South Australian border a fortnight ago, at 54,800 megalitres per day.

“That peak takes about two weeks to move down the river in South Australia,” she said.

“(It has) been six years since flows exceeded 40,000 ML/day … water starts to spread out over the flood plain when flows are greater than around 40,000 ML/day, which is great for flood plain environments.

“At these higher flows, we start seeing low lying flood plain areas inundated and low lying shack areas are impacted.

“The greatest rise in water levels is observed just downstream of the locks.”

Ms Bloss said a new surge is expected within weeks, due to recent high rainfall events in the upstream catchments.

“At this stage it is likely the flow to SA will exceed 60,000 ML/day on, or around, September 13 and continue rising,” she said.

“The upper catchments are relatively wet … we expect elevated flows coming out of lower Darling and Murrumbidgee to last for some months.”

This last year, the flow was just 24,000ML/day.

Long-time Renmark Paringa Council mayor Neil Martinson said the positives of having high river levels far outweighed any negatives, including boosting tourism, watering thirsty trees and other vegetation on the floodplains and benefiting local farmers.

“The fact we have so much water coming into the state … has a long-term effect, it means irrigators can be confident of accessing their full water allocations this year, and for the next couple of years,” he said.

Mr Martinson said it was the fourth time in his 16-year tenure he’d seen the river so high.

Murray Bridge Marina and Caravan Park general manager Myd Crabtree agreed it was good to see the healthy flows.

“When the river is flowing and there is plenty of water, it’s always a good thing,” he said.

SASES chief officer Chris Beattie has urged river users to take extra care and “apply basic safety”.

“A vibrant and healthy River Murray is one of the state’s great tourist attractions (but) high flows can result in challenging conditions,” he said.