350m barrier to protect Renmark from Murray

A temporary barrier will be built on the riverbank at Renmark to protect the town from the rising River Murray

A 350m-long line of defence will be built on the riverbank at Renmark to protect the town from the rising River Murray.

Renmark Paringa chief executive Tony Siviour told a public meeting on Thursday night that DefenCell technology, which is essentially a large sandbag, would be 1.5m wide and 600mm high, would be installed along the riverfront.

Mr Siviour said the bags would arrive in Renmark next week and it would take three days to construct the temporary barrier.

“If we run it from the VIC (Visitor Information Centre), all the way through to Westpac bank, that will give us enough coverage,’’ Mr Siviour told the meeting.

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He said it would protect the town’s business district from flows of up to 250GL a day.

Renmark is predicted to experience a first peak of between 170GL and 180GL a day around December 14.

A second peak in late December has a high probability of it reaching at least 185 GL/day, a moderate probability of 200 GL/day and a lower probability of 220GL/day.

On Thursday, the flow at the border reached 150GL a day for the first time since 1975.

Mr Siviour said remedial work on the 38km of levees that protected the broader town from flood would be complete by next week.

And two million sandbags have now been secured for flood-threatened communities and additional supplies would be arriving in coming days.

More than 130 SES, SA Police, MFS and PIRSA officers have been deployed to door knock properties, with a goal of attending 3500 premises before floodwaters hit.