Government to raise minimum height of River Murray shack floors to protect from floods

The state government is considering whether the height of shacks on the River Murray should be raised to prepare for future floods.

Raising the height of floors in new shacks on the River Murray is one option under consideration by the state government, as it considers how to avoid a repeat of the devastation caused by the floods that inundated 4000 dwellings along the waterway.

Planning Minister Nick Champion said the government was “currently assessing what planning changes are required to assist with the flood recovery and ensure redevelopment is better protected against any future events’’.

Mr Champion said potential amendments to the planning code for homes along the Murray were to “finished floor levels, maximum building heights and underfloor structure materials’’.

“Consideration of new finished floor level requirements – based on flood level data now being gathered – is likely to form part of the code amendment process,’’ he said.

It is not known by how much floor heights could be lifted.

A holiday home at Morgan is flooded by the rising Murray in November last year. Picture: Brenton Edwards

Many areas along the river currently do not have minimum heights for finished floor levels, but planning policy does dictate that dwellings are above a one-in-a-hundred-year flood event. It is believed most homes were built to withstand levels seen during the flood of 1974, which translated to the first floor of properties being about 2.5m above the ground. It is possible the code amendment could mandate minimum floor height levels for planning purposes that could vary from region to region.

However, water levels that swept along the Murray late last year and into 2023 had not been experienced since the record flood of 1956.

Hammond MP Adrian Pederick, whose seat takes in Mannum, supported the proposed changes and said he hoped by raising the height above the water it would help keep down future insurance premiums.

“We are having enough problems with insurance already,’’ he said.

Mid-Murray Council chief executive Ben Scales was also supportive of any changes. The council covers hard-hit areas, such as Morgan and Blanchetown, and accounts for 2500 of the 4000 inundated properties. Mr Scales said assessments were being carried out to assess how many of those properties could be remediated and how many would need to be knocked down.

“We’re supportive and we have raised that with the government, given the extent of the damage to those properties,’’ he said.

But Mr Scales also said it would require a careful approach to ensure new shack builds were still compatible with the surrounding environment.

The flood inundates a shack at Morgan last year. Picture: Brenton Edwards

“There will be people who will want to go ‘I want to build my second level as high as I possibly can so I never get flooded again’, but you can’t have one that is 2.5m, one at 3.5m and one at 6m.

“I suppose the question is, these are built on flood plains, there’s going to be flood, so it’s how we mitigate the flood that will come. Whether that’s next year, or whether that’s another 50 years, the river floods.’’

Mr Champion also said the creation of a long-term housing and infrastructure plan for the Murray Mallee region had been postponed until December to give more time to assess the effects of the floods.

Mark Rademacher, vice chairperson of the flooded Brenda Park community said he supported the review.

Mr Rademacher said the flood had set a new base level and 300mm should be added for the maximum height of the first floor.

“We also understand that changes will be made to allow the build-up of the natural level of the land,’’ he said.