Riverland floods declared major emergency as Grant Stevens put in charge of response
Businesses in the state’s flood-affected river towns will get a massive extra cash boost, the Premier will unveil today, as the Police Commissioner leads the floods response with emergency powers.
SA News
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Tens of millions of dollars in extra economic support for flood-affected River Murray communities will be unveiled by Premier Peter Malinauskas on Tuesday, particularly targeting cash for affected businesses.
It is understood the package, engineered by Mr Malinauskas and Treasurer Stephen Mullighan, is also likely to include one-off payments for householders forced to evacuate.
The looming River Murray floods crisis in South Australia has been declared a major emergency, with water flows expected to peak at 175GL within weeks and a second flow peak now expected.
Mr Malinauskas on Monday announced Police Commissioner Grant Stevens would get additional powers to help manage the rising flood waters, revealing a second major peak was expected around the end of December/early January.
It is understood further state government assistance will be considered as the flood situation changes but Tuesday’s package will target tourism, hospitality and other businesses hit by the floods.
Current modelling shows a high probability of flows of 175GL a day by early December, with a “moderate likelihood” of 200GL and a “low likelihood” of 220GL.
“For many of the people who are affected it’s a bigger deal than Covid but for the number of people who are affected it’s nothing like Covid,” Mr Malinauskas told The Advertiser.
“ … So all we can do is prepare as best as possible. It’s also slow-moving. A bushfire it might happen one day, there’s 48 hours of devastation, then you start responding – whereas this is going to be more protracted.
“We face the real possibility of peaks in December, early January, but higher river flows well into January and February. So for the people that it does affect it could be protracted, which means that it’s a different type of event, which requires a different type of response.”
EXPLORE THE MAPS HERE: 120GL, 140GL, 160GL AND 200GL DAILY FLOWS
It is the third major emergency declared for South Australia this year, following declarations for Covid and flooding in the state’s north which isolated Outback towns.
The announcement was made following a meeting of the Emergency Management Council on Monday afternoon.
The state government has already announced it will spend $4.8m on flood defence resources, on top of $3m already committed for levee bank restoration works.
WATCH THE SPECIAL FLOODS ANNOUNCEMENT REPLAY
Nearly 8km of military-style flood barriers, called DefenCell, will also be established with the SES saying the first deployment will be at Nappers Bridge, at Lake Bonney, on Tuesday.
The location was chosen to protect “high value assets” and “essential infrastructure” following discussions with the Environment Department, SA Power Networks, SA Water and councils.
An estimated 3500-4000 properties are expected to be affected by rising floodwaters, with a compensation package expected to be announced by Mr Malinauskas in the Riverland on Tuesday.
An additional 225,000 hessian sandbags – arriving from India and within Australia – will be in the Riverland by the end of the week to help residents prepare.
The levee around Renmark is built to withstand water flows of 210GL per day.
Mr Malinauskas said another peak was predicted to occur in late December to early January, which could see even higher flows than forecast in early December’s first peak.
“This is a decision that has the full support of all of the key agencies … it is also a decision that enjoys the full support of the state government,” he said.
“It enables the police commissioner to take another suite of actions which may not otherwise be possible, adding another layer of co-ordination on what is already a very substantial effort.
“We want to be in the best state of preparedness for the recovery that is required.”
The premier said the emergency declaration was “different to what (the declaration) was usually used for”.
“In the ordinary course of events, notwithstanding Covid, the major emergency declaration occurs once an event has commenced,” Mr Malinauskas said.
“We’re doing this ahead of the game to make sure we’re in the best possible position of preparedness.”
Updated modelling regarding the second peak was expected to be publicly available on Thursday.
“This is a moving feast that is technically complicated and reliant on multiple sources of data … but we now have the prospect of a second peak that could potentially be higher than the first,” Mr Malinauskas said.
The state government’s relief package for Riverland residents affected by the flood events will be announced on Tuesday, alongside the appointment of the region’s local recovery co-ordinator.
SES CEO Chris Beattie said the updated modelling reinforced the uncertainty of flooding events but remedial levee works were progressing “very well”.
Mr Beattie said the SES was working with local councils to erect temporary levee structures around Mannum, Morgan, Lake Bonney and Cobdogla.
The large Mannum levee would encompass the caravan park, across the ferries, down the Mannum dock museum, the visitor centre and up the main road to the bowling club.
An additional levee had also been proposed to protect the Cobdogla caravan park.
“We are doing a lot of work with the Mid Murray Council and the Barmera Berri Council in relation to some proposed new levees that will support essential infrastructure and residential homes,” Mr Beattie said.
“The challenge with this flood event is that it’s not over in a night – these waters are going to be raised and protracted for months to come.
“A sandbag wall around a property is not going to protect that property for an extended period of time.”
He also thanked SES and CFS volunteers for their efforts over the past three or four weeks, with “hundreds and hundreds” of calls for assistance in the wake of severe storms.
“It’s a long haul. We’ve got months of response to go with the River Murray but the state should be proud and thankful for our volunteers,” he said.
Uncertainty over “how large” later peak will be
The Department of Environment and Water said large releases of water from the Hume Dam and higher than forecast flows through the Murrumbidgee River gave the potential for a later peak flow.
DEW executive director Ben Bruce said there was still uncertainty over how large that peak may be.
“It could just be that the water peaks in early December and just stays at that level until right at the end, however it may peak up again,” Mr Bruce said.
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said the first order of business following the declaration would be to appoint the state’s Assistant State Coordinator Recovery, who will manage the economic, social and infrastructural effects of the flood event.
Mr Stevens said the Australian Defence Force would only be called in for assistance if all local resources were exhausted.
“At this point in time there has been no provision of resources from the ADF, however they are sitting in the SEC ready to receive requests when that time is appropriate,” he said.
Under the emergency declaration, the commissioner can direct resources or infrastructure, evacuate locations and give directions to cut off utilities in certain locations.
“Historically with a major incident like this, like a bushfire, the recovery efforts tend to commence when we’ve put the fire out,” Mr Stevens said.
“Given the fact there are already communities impacted by the floods, those recovery efforts start much earlier and will be continuing for much longer.”
Mr Stevens said it was the first time in the history of the Emergency Management Act three declarations had been made in one year.
“Prior to Covid, we’d only had four or five declarations under the act – three in one year is a new threshold,” he said.
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