Business is booming in Mannum as thousands flock to see once-in-a-generation flood
Hopes are high cold beer will once again flow from the taps at the Mannum Hotel, with business booming in the Riverside town leaving another eatery run off its feet.
SA News
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Hopes are high cold beer will soon flow from the taps at the Mannum Hotel, with business booming in the Riverside town as visitors flock to see the once-in-a-generation flood.
The hotel was forced to close its doors on the New Year’s Eve weekend – one of its busiest of the year – after flood water seeped under the road and into its basement, cutting off power.
Publican Peter “Beachy” Raison said “with a bit of luck” the hotel’s electrical issue would be resolved on Tuesday, in news that would be welcomed by his 18 staff.
“They (SA Power Networks) seem to think they’ve curbed the water issue into the service pits, so fingers crossed it could be tomorrow (Tuesday),” Mr Raison said.
“We’ll be able to pump out the cellar as we need to keep it maintained as there’s still water seeping in, but not as fast.”
There were fears the closure would leave the town without both of its pubs for an indefinite amount of time, after The Pretoria Hotel temporary closed because of the water level.
Mr Raison thanked the council, emergency services and the community, who were “all tired but they’ve bent over backwards for us” during the difficult time.
“A lot of people are coming to Mannum and spending money, but unfortunately we’re not open ... after two years of Covid we really didn’t need this,” he said.
“Unfortunately, we’ve slipped between the cracks for any sort of compensation.”
Beefy Kovacs, of Tungkillo, has been pumping out water as “country people help each other”.
Other businesses were run off their feet feeding the droves of tourists visiting the town, forcing the Mannum Club to hire more staff and order in more plates and cutlery.
“We’ve been doing up to 350 mains at lunch, which is huge for us and our kitchen, compared to a busy normal summer we would be doing 150-200 meals,” manager Lorrae Law said.
“The staff are exhausted, but it’s been good for us ... we fought really hard to stay open, we’ve had our own issues with threats of sewage and power being taken out, but we managed to get past it all.”
Mid Murray Mayor Simone Bailey encouraged tourists to use a free shuttle bus between the Mannum Leisure Centre and Randell St, from 10am-3pm, as parking was at a premium.
“To save our town’s septic system, SA Water have to pump ever few hours from the main street so a lot of the parks are taken up, but it’s allowed the mini bus service to operate without any hassles,” Ms Bailey said.
“Every shop down the main street was full before the floods and we want to keep them all in business, so we can definitely handle more tourists.”
Meanwhile, emergency services were watching rising waters in NSW’s Darling River currently sitting at 10.2m and expected to flood Menindee Lakes properties.
“There may be a slight increase in the water levels, but due to the time required for the water from the lakes to reach SA and the water levels dropping at the border, we are not expecting to have significant impacts other than what we are experiencing now,” SES chief of staff Robert Charlton said.
The SES also warned that water had started flowing into Swanport, near Murray Bridge, on Monday, after two levees were breached but no homes were likely to be affected.
Water may impact Bott Lane after the Long Island and Swanport levees, either side of Swanport Bridge, were breached.
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