Federal and SA governments to announce further financial assistance for flood victims

Riverland homeowners will be able to tap into a new government fund to assess the damage to their flood-ravaged homes.

Riverland homeowners will receive government assistance to assess flood damage to their homes through a new funding package, the Sunday Mail can reveal.

The federal and state governments will this week announce additional financial support for affected River Murray communities in a jointly-funded package.

It will include $10 million to assess flood damage to primary residential properties including structural damage, electrical infrastructure and reconnecting services.

“We know it’s going to be a long road to recovery,” said federal Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt.

“This new funding means that people will have access to the immediate, impactful support they need to start to clean up, repair, rebuild and recover.”

Premier Peter Malinauskas had flagged about a week ago that he was in negotiations with the federal government over a recovery funding package.

“We know that we have a massive clean-up ahead of us, once the peak moves through the river and waters recede,” he said on Saturday.

“Reconnecting power as quickly as possible is going to be key to getting people back into their properties.”

The $10m commitment follows an announcement in late November of a jointly-funded $51m assistance package for flood-affected communities.

That included one-off personal hardships emergency grants of $400 for individuals and up to $1000 families.