Riverland floods crisis: Worried traders beg visitors to support them

Riverland traders are bracing for a deluge during the peak tourist seasons – but hope visitors will still support them.

Talk to business owners in the Riverland and a common theme emerges – Covid had belted them but they had survived, even thrived on the other side of it, but now the uncertainty is back.

This time, it’s not the surprise of a global pandemic but the rising level of the River Murray. The worst is still a month away but business is already suffering.

For some it’s the already swollen river that is the problem. The current flow rate is around 85GL, about three times the rate this time last year, and it’s headed to an estimated peak of at least 135GL, an estimate some believe to be conservative.

For businesses such as houseboat operators the problem is real and immediate. The river is already too big and too fast to safely hire out a houseboat. For others the problem is mainly one of perception.

The word flood is a powerful one. Images of destruction seen from towns such as Echuca and Lismore in recent times have left their mark, even though the circumstances across the Riverland are very different.

In SA, the Murray is not becoming a wall of water, rather it is stealthily creeping up, centimetre by centimetre.

Sam Obst, manager of the Big 4 River Front Caravan Park in Loxton, in on the Murray. Picture: Emma Brasier

It is the perception that the Riverland is under water that is hurting businesses in the region and not just those who are close to the rising river.

Salena Wines is not under threat from the rising river but marketing manager Salena Muirden has noticed fewer tourists this year than previously.

“We are seeing some tourists drop off because people are thinking the river levels are too high,’’ she said. “They are worried roads might be cut off or they might be stranded.

“We have had quite a number of people cancelling their bookings.’’

The cancellations have come over the past five weeks and have stretched from five to 50 people.

Salena Estates exports its wine all over the world but also has a modern cellar door and restaurant that opened in October 2019.

After coming out of Covid, Muirden said she was hoping this would “be a good year’’.

Muirden said this was the time of year tourists started to return to the Riverland as the weather normally improved and the weather heated up.

“The Riverland is almost dead over winter but summer is when it comes alive,’’ she said.

The region has also been hit with severe rain storms, leaving some of the 250ha under vine inundated, meaning harvest will likely start later than usual.

“I’m 30 and in my 30 years I have never seen water in some of these places,’’ she said.

Woolshed Brewery sits on the river outside Paringa. In other times, houseboats and tinnies tie up and patrons walk up the steps into the brewery. Now the bottom steps are underwater, but Tom Freeman said the brewery was still open for business. The road to Woolshed is open and that is not going to change.

Jodie Reynolds, Manager of Fox Tale House Boats in Morgan. Picture: Emma Brasier

“The Riverland is still open for business,’’ Mr Freeman said. “The only reason it would be affected is if people don’t visit when there is no reason not to come.’’

But if people didn’t want to visit, Mr Freeman said there were other ways to support the region.

“They can buy a carton of Riverland wine online or a case of beer,’’ he said.

Further along the river at the Overland Corner Hotel Brad and Nicole Flowers have a positive story to tell. The hotel is taking about 20 calls a week from people asking when they can pull their tinnie up to the back door of the Overland Corner Hotel and pop in for a cold beer. The answer is now.

Overland Corner is about 30km from Berri, sitting off the Goyder Highway, Its pub has claims to be the oldest building in the Riverland, starting business in 1859. In a normal year, the River Murray sits around 900m from the pub. This is not a normal year.

“We had a bloke rock up on a jet ski on the weekend,’’ Mr Flowers said. “Everyone is excited about coming here by boat.’’

The flood water is already lapping over the pub’s bottom carpark and there are plans to extend the levee that is already in place.

Mr Flowers is confident the rising waters won’t threaten the historic pub. The levee was not breached during the 1974 flood, the last time water levels approached these highs. Although, there are marks near the roof of the building showing just how high the monster 1956 event was.

Brad and Nicole Flowers, owners of the Overland Corner Hotel in Overland Corner in the Riverland. Picture: Emma Brasier

“We are all waiting with bated breath really,’’ he said.

But in the meantime, there are upsides. For one, the wildlife is taking off.

“We have people throwing yabbie nets in and then coming in for a beer,’’ he said.

Brad and Nicole have been running the Overland Corner for two years. But their presence in this out-of-the-way part of the world is purely down to circumstance.

The Sydney couple had been travelling Australia in a caravan with their two young boys Indi and Jax when Covid struck. Stranded, they ended up staying with Tom Freeman at the Woolshed Brewery.

For seven months they lived in a houseboat and over “a beer or two’’ the idea to take on the Overland Corner was born. It was a local icon that had fallen into a little disrepair.

“Over 160 years, every person in the Riverland has probably had some kind of function here,’’ he said. “We returned it to being a full-time trading pub.’’

Others have less reason to feel optimist. Jodie Reynolds is facing three months with little income.

Right on the banks of the Murray, just out of Morgan, Ms Reynolds runs a houseboat business, a slipway, a hairdressers, a septic pumping operation and a cleaning company. She worries about her staff who are about to lose their jobs.

Houseboats from her company Foxtale Houseboats, plus many others, are floating placidly near by. They are sitting high on the water and across the Murray, shacks and houses are already being inundated by the ever-rising river.

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Ms Reynolds is trying to remain cheerful, but there are no doubt moments when it all seems a little overwhelming. Every day she watches as the river creeps higher. She believes the river flow will reach 160ML a day and if that happens, the water depth on her property will be around 1.3m.

Ms Reynolds grew up on the river. Her father, who is still building houseboats in his 80s, bought the property in the ’90s. Lessons from previous floods are being heeded and preparations are being made.

“I won’t be one bit surprised if it gets to 160 and that is what we are preparing for, and we hope to hell that we are wrong,’’ she said. “I have plan A, B, C, D, E, F and G.’’

There is optimism yet that it won’t be that bad. The official peak estimate is 135ML and Ms Reynolds holds hope it won’t be reach that. The road to her home is still open despite predictions it would need to be closed weeks ago.

When it does finally close, Ms Reynolds will make her way to the house on a tinnie, If the power is eventually cut, she may move to one of her houseboats, perhaps moor it at Morgan if that’s possible.

But the reality is the peak season for her business is disappearing. The summer is the busiest time for the houseboat industry and Ms Reynolds said she would be “losing 100 per cent of the peak season for the next three months’’.

And there is the fear it could be longer.

“We don’t know how long it will take to go down and then there is the time to clean it all up,’’ she said.

Ms Reynolds said the state government should be supporting small businesses such as hers with subsidies to help them navigate the lean months ahead. She also called on local governments and banks to pause demands for rates and repayments.

Salena Muirden, marketing manager at Salena Estate Wines at Bookpurnong. Picture: Emma Brasier

Caravan parks are in the front line for the rising river.

The best-case scenario for Sam Obst is that he will regain his submerged camp sites by the March long weekend. Mr Obst is manager at the Big 4 Loxton Riverside Caravan Park, which has already had to close about 50 powered and unpowered sites in low-lying areas.

“We are hoping for the March long weekend but we are not certain,’’ he said.

The uncertainty is being driven by not knowing what the peak of the Murray will be in the area because there could be more rainfall in the eastern states’ portion the river system.

But on the bright side, Mr Obst is confident the rest of the park, including its cabins will be safe from the rising water.

“Department of Environment estimates and what we are seeing leaves us with large safety margins,’’ he said.

He said they had as much as another 1.5m in water depth before any more of the park was threatened.

Bookings were holding up well, Mr Obst said, with cabins booked through to December.

At the Morgan Riverside Caravan Park, owner Leigh Cock estimates he has lost about 70 per cent of his tourist traffic. He is looking to extend levee banks but says the park is safe and visitors should take advantage and see the Murray in full flow.

“There is still plenty of time to come and see the rising river,’’ he said.

“If safety becomes a concern we will cease trading and not let anyone near it.’’