Outback SA town of Innamincka isolated as Queensland floodwaters flow down Cooper Creek

There’s a desperate race against time in SA’s far north and incredible quantities of water pour down the Cooper Creek – and right for one small community in particular.

Residents of Innamincka face being isolated for weeks as floodwaters from western Queensland flow into the tiny South Australian Outback town.

All roads into the town are now closed and State Emergency Services personnel are sandbagging as the Cooper Creek rises to levels expected to be the highest since floods of 2010.

Innamincka Hotel publican Laura Blackwood said residents could do little except wait and see how much the water would rise.

“What’s gunna be is gunna be – the water is going to come up, it’s just to what extent... we’ll sit it out and see what happens,” she said.

“We’ve been lucky enough to get a couple of trucks in during the past week, so everyone has plenty of supplies for now.”

All roads in to the tiny outback SA town if Innamincka are closed. Picture: Ali Matthews

The swollen Cooper Creek puts far north community under siege. Picture: Birdsville Aviation Picture: SA Infrastructure and Transport

The swollen Cooper Creek puts far north community under siege. Picture: Birdsville Aviation Picture: SA Infrastructure and Transport

The swollen Cooper Creek puts far north community under siege. Picture: Birdsville Aviation Picture: SA Infrastructure and Transport

Ms Blackwood and her husband Travis only moved to town five weeks ago from Pine Point on Yorke Peninsula.

“We’ve left the ocean view and now we have a lake view – it’s just gorgeous to see, it looks beautiful,” she said.

The Strzelecki Track, which provides access to the south, had been the last open road into town before it closed on Sunday.

SES chief of staff Robert Charlton said the agency had been co-ordinating a response to the incoming flood for the past few days.

A road train from Adelaide had carried in earthmoving equipment, a four-wheel drive vehicle, sandbags, diesel and 1.2km of DefenCell flood barriers used during the River Murray floods of 2022-23.

The SES will meet with locals at noon today to provide an update of the potential impacts of the flooding and the response plan.

DefenCell flood mitigation wall installed around Innamincka. Picture: SA SES

Outback SA town of Innamincka isolated as Queensland floodwaters flow down Cooper Creek. Picture: Birdsville Aviation

The Cooper Creek near the Innamincka. Picture: Ali Matthews

“Hydrology forecasting currently indicates the flood level will be reach similar levels to the

2010 flooding event at Innamincka which recorded water levels of 10.4m at the Cullyamurra

Waterhole, located upstream,’’ Mr Charlton said. “During this event, flood waters did not reach the Innamincka Hotel.’’

The SES has deployed 18 personnel to Innamincka, which has a permanent population of about 10 people.

National Parks and Wildlife Service Outback district ranger Travis Gotch said the floodwaters were still weeks away from reaching Lake Eyre.

DefenCell flood mitigation wall installed around Innamincka. Picture: SA SES

DefenCell flood mitigation wall installed around Innamincka. Picture: SA SES

DefenCell flood mitigation wall installed around Innamincka. Picture: SA SES

Floodwaters near Innamincka. Picture: Supplied

”From an environmental point of view, it’s absolutely incredible, but for managing the impacts on the community and infrastructure and all the rest of it, it’s a real challenge,” Mr Gotch said. “There will be a lot of that infrastructure that needs to be replaced.”

The floods are the result of intense rain in March, in which some areas received more than 600 millimetres within a week – more than the annual average.

The rain has caused floodwaters to cover an area four times the size of Victoria.