Riverland flood evacuees go face months away from home – so where will they go | Michael McGuire
We’ve know for about a month that River Murray is going to flood an estimated 4000 properties. But there are still two massive questions, writes Michael McGuire.
Opinion
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One of the biggest challenges caused by the rising River Murray will be finding somewhere for those forced out of their homes to live while they wait for the water to recede.
This is not a short-term fix either. We are talking about months and months.
The flood of the Murray is going to produce a band of internal refugees.
And even when they are allowed back to their homes, who knows what they will find or what damage has been done. State and federal governments are going to need to look after those affected for quite some time to come.
The number bandied about so far is that 4000 properties along the Murray are likely to be inundated. State housing minister Nat Cook says fewer than a quarter of those are “primary residences’’ and the government is preparing to house “hundreds subject to water levels’’.
It is likely people who live in low-lying river communities such as Morgan, Cadell, Brenda Park, Scott Creek, Walker Flat, Paisley and parts of Blanchetown and Mannum will need to be evacuated.
And where will they go?
The state government, through Housing Minister Nat Cook, has so far given some broad advice that it “has a plan in place for specific relief accommodation should the need arise’’. The phrase “should the need arise’’ is certainly a curious one. As of Monday, the flow of the Murray into South Australia was more than 130GL a day.
It’s on its way to 175GL this week, the highest since 1974. It won’t drop from there, but will build towards 185GL by the end of December, the highest since 1956. And there is still quite a strong chance it could top 200GL. The forecasts don’t include any further rainfall in the eastern states.
By the most conservative estimate, the Murray won’t drop to even 150GL until mid-January. It will still be at 100GL by mid-February. As a point of comparison, the flow of the Murray over the border at this time of year is often around 6GL a day.
But Liberal MP for Hammond Adrian Pederick estimates “hundreds’’ of people around Mannum alone could be displaced by the floods and wants to know where they will go.
According to real estate research group PropTrack, the rental vacancy rate in the Murray and Mallee regions is 0.53 per cent. And that estimate could be generous. Proprietor and property manager at BH Partners Real Estate Melissa Muster says she has zero rentals available in Mannum.
Further along the river, PropTrack says the rental vacancy rate in the Riverland is 0.73 per cent.
Cook says SA Housing is ready to source motel accommodation across the SA and that it has a site in the Riverland that can take 200 caravans, It has also an emergency centre to provide accommodation for a night before they are “triaged into motels’’.
Still, Chaffey MP Tim Whetstone says there is a severe shortage of housing in the Riverland, and points to the long waiting lists for public housing. He also says this is the time of year when demand for motel accommodation is at its peak. Employers have already booked spots for workers coming up for the grain harvest, then the stone fruit harvest, vintage and the almond harvest. There is also the unknown of how many further electricity and sewerage disconnections there will be as the water rises. It is possible the state government’s current estimates will prove optimistic.
Whetstone says part of the answer could lie in temporary accommodation as provided by companies such as Humanihut, an Adelaide-based company that has provided emergency accommodation for refugees and disaster victims by converting shipping containers into living spaces.
Another option could be the emergency pods supplied by charity Minderoo that helped house people after the 2020 Kangaroo Island fires. There has also been some thought of using empty business premises.
This Murray flood has been a slow build. It’s been known for more than a month now that a lot of water is coming down the river. The concern is that many of the communities most affected have a high proportion of vulnerable people, whether through age, employment status or disability.
The Advertiser has spoken to people, for example, with no internet connection. They don’t know what their options are and feel left behind.
The state government has moved relatively swiftly in some ways in recent weeks. Its $51.6 million package is no doubt welcome in helping prepare the area for what is coming and it did include rental assistance of up to $2000 for singles and $5000 for families who are not insured and are displaced from their homes by floodwaters and who have nowhere else to go.
But those kind of payments won’t go far if people, even if they can find a place, are forced out of their homes for months and possibly longer. No doubt, South Australians will band together to support those most in need, but the state government needs to be as active as possible in making sure no one slips through the cracks.
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