Crows players visit 16 schools across the Riverland, fans flock to Waikerie for supporters dinner
The Adelaide Crows have been busy, visiting about 4800 students across 16 schools in the Riverland. It’s put smiles on local kids’ faces – and been “confronting” for the players.
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The Adelaide Crows have been busy, visiting about 4800 students across 16 schools in the Riverland.
On Thursday they gathered at Berri Primary School for a fun day of activity with students, greeted with hundreds of kids screaming “I love the Crows!”.
“It’s good to mingle with the kids and let them have a little bit of fun,” forward Darcy Fogarty said.
Eleven players across AFL and AFLW set up a range of activities around the oval for the reception to year six students to participate in.
Berri Primary School student Hazael Awo-Sluggett said he loved running around dodging the footballs the players were throwing at the students.
“It really made me feel my emotions – I love the Crows,” he said.
Cobdolga Primary School student Chelsea Harwood, 9, sported a blue, red and yellow rainbow shaped necklace especially for the day.
Adelaide Crows players Sam Berry, Billy Dowling, Darcy Fogarty, Lachlan Gollant, Mitch Hinge, Max Michalanney, Luke Nankervis, Jake Soligo and Riley Thilthorpe along with AFLW players Sarah Allan and Niamh Kelly headed to the Riverland to support the flood-affected community.
“To drive through places like Waikerie, seeing the amount of water that is out there is eye opening and pretty confronting,” Fogarty said.
“It hasn’t been easy for them, but to see how tight-knit the community is and how they’re holding together is pretty good.
“For people to lose their homes and some of their belongings is not something you’d want to happen to anyone,” he said.
Before heading back to Adelaide the players hosted a meet and greet with members of the public at Berri Oval, signing jerseys and posters and chatting to kids.
Best friends Bode Gates and Charlie Kregar were first in line, holding jerseys and posters for the players to sign.
“We were so excited,” 10-year-old Bode said.
The boys attended the clinic at Berri Primary School from their school Our Lady of the River School.
“I love having a kick,” 10-year-old Charlie said.
Charlie’s mum, Jules Kregar, said having the players come to Berri took the residents’ minds off the devastating floods.
“It’s wonderful to have them here, it puts a smile on all the kids’ faces,” she said.
Crows players, fans flock to Waikerie for supporters dinner
Road closures have meant Berri’s Jill, 81, and Graham Gates, 82, have had limited opportunities to get out and about due to the flood crisis.
They’ve particularly missed visiting friends in Loxton.
But nothing was going to stop them travelling to Waikerie to meet their beloved Adelaide Crows on Monday night.
They were among more than 100 fans who packed the Waikerie Club for a supporters dinner and the chance to meet their football heroes.
The Mark Ricciuto room at the club was filled with red, blue and yellow as fans filled the tables hoping to snag a seat next to their favourite players.
The event was part of the club’s Riverland “community camp” which also includes a series of school clinics.
The club chose the Riverland to show support for communities hard hit by the flood crisis.
The Gateses have been fans since the Crows entered the AFL in 1991.
“They’re visiting some of the schools to see the schoolchildren and they will absolutely love it,” Ms Gates said.
Crows CEO Tim Silvers praised the turnout, saying: “(It’s) been great to see, really great people that love their footy, they’re passionate about their footy.
“It was important to recognise our supporters by coming up and putting on a community camp up here for the next few days.
“It’s been a tough time for a lot of people here and we feel for them and we’ve got a lot of people at the club connected to people up here.”
Riverland Crows Supporters Group president Peter Marks said it “just lifts everyone’s spirits up”.
“These people have come up here to show their empathy for us, that’s really what helps people get through these tough times,” he said.
Young Crows forward Lachlan Gollant said he was keen “to put a few smiles on faces”.
“We understand that it’s been a pretty tough time for the locals that have been flood-affected, so we are excited to do anything we can do to help,” he said.
“We know how much footy means to them in this part of the world.”
Swimming’s back! Major lifting of restrictions for River Murray
Swimming, kayaking and jet skiing can return to large portions of the River Murray as flood restrictions further ease.
On Monday, the state’s emergency co-ordinator Grant Stevens lifted limits on motorised boats and human-powered vessels between Renmark and Blanchetown.
In Zones A, B, C, D and E – which run from the border to the upriver side of Lock 1 – you can now operate a jet ski, houseboat or pontoon.
However, speed limits of 10 knots apply on the river and four knots within 250m of any dwelling or building.
It also remains banned to tow a person from behind a motorised vessel in those zones.
Human-powered vessels such as kayaks and canoes and swimming, bathing and diving are now allowed – but not within 250m of a lock or weir.
On or in the flood plain, you must not be within 50m of an overhead power line.
In Zone F — which runs from the downriver side of Lock 1 at Blanchetown to the upriver side of the Wellington Ferry Crossing — human-powered vessels, houseboats and pontoons remain banned, as does swimming, bathing and diving.
Life jackets are compulsory in the open area of any vessel up to 12 metres long.
Motorised boats and jet skis are allowed, but a speed limit of 10 knots applies on open water and four knots within 250m of an engaged levee or building.
Flood assistance finalised, residents plead for road relief
The easing of restrictions comes as Riverland residents welcome news the road between Berri and Loxton will be open within a fortnight – but they insist a long-term solution, such as raising Bookpurnong Rd, must be implemented so it does not have to close in future floods.
Premier Peter Malinauskas on Sunday announced $60m to fix roads washed away by the worst flooding in decades.
He also unveiled a tax plan for people whose homes and cars have been destroyed or severely damaged, including stamp duty relief of up to $48,830 for those who decide to buy homes rather than rebuild.
There will also be land tax and Emergency Services Levy relief.
An estimated 1200km of roads have been damaged, along with 3300 properties – including 360 primary homes.
A key priority will be fixing Bookpurnong Rd, the key road between Loxton and Berri that has been closed since December 1, forcing locals into long detours and hurting businesses.
It is expected to open to light vehicles within the next fortnight.
Berri resident Sue Crossing, 71, has been waking up much earlier than usual for an hour-long trip to her cleaning job in Loxton – it usually only takes 15 minutes.
As she is vision-impaired and needs a driver, it has cost her an extra $20 a day for the longer commute.
“It’s been a huge inconvenience,” she said.
Ms Crossing, who has also taken in a friend’s teenage daughter from Loxton so she does not have to make the expensive trip to work to Berri each day, was pleased the road would soon reopen, but called for it to be raised at least a metre.
Glossop resident and grape grower Julie Feher, who estimated the road closure cost her business an extra $8000 in freight costs, agreed.
“People are tired (of driving),” she said.
“I’m surprised there aren’t more fatalities.”
“Do it (raise the road) properly and do it once and then next time this won’t be happening.”
Transport Department chief executive Jon Whelan said the priority was to get the road open “as quickly as possible”.
“We’ll do some temporary fixes to get that open for traffic – light vehicles in the first instance – and we’ll have our design engineers look to what it could be to make this road more resilient to future flooding,” he said.
Other priorities in the Riverland will be Taylorville and Kingston roads, the government said.
Half of the $60m road funding will come from the joint state-federal $190m already announced for flood recovery.
The rest will come from the Transport Department’s maintenance budget.
Renmark Paringa Mayor Peter Hunter said the money was a “solid show of support” from the government.
Mr Hunter said it was critical to reopen Bookpurnong Rd as it “connects the Berri Regional Hospital to thousands of residents on the other side of the river, who at the moment need to travel an extra 30 to 50 minutes to access basic services”.
He said the longer-term rebuild may need to incorporate more bridges or culverts “to make sure the river can flow more freely and not be dammed back by such infrastructure”.
People whose primary place of residence has been destroyed or heavily damaged will be eligible to apply for up to $48,830 in stamp duty relief on the purchase of a new home.
Similarly, the relief for buyers of replacement vehicles will be up to $2127 for commercial ones and $2816 for non-commercial ones.
Vehicle owners will be entitled to relief equivalent to the Emergency Services Levy paid on the active registration period of their lost or destroyed vehicle.
Land tax will also be waived in cases of properties being destroyed or badly damaged, including for owners of business properties and long-term residential rentals.
Owners of holiday rental properties will have to demonstrate loss of income as a result of serious damage to be eligible.
If land tax for 2022-23 has already been paid, refunds will be given.
“While waters are receding, and the immediate danger is passing, we know there is still a massive and challenging clean-up ahead of us,” Mr Malinauskas said.
“Some homes will not be repairable. Others will take considerable time to fix.
“Tax relief is a sensible way my government can assist households and businesses as we work through this recovery together.”
Treasurer Stephen Mullighan said there was no firm criteria for the level of damage needed to be eligible for the stamp duty relief, saying the government would use its “discretion”.
“But we are trying to focus this effort to those people who need to physically move their properties because it’s uninhabitable for them,” he said, urging people to come to relief centres or contact Revenue SA to detail their situations.
He said the “last thing” the government wanted to do was incentivise people to leave river communities.
“But if (people) want to re-evaluate whether they want to stay in that sort of area or perhaps move to higher ground, then they should feel free to do so without the cost of these sorts of government taxes.”
The government also flagged a $4m tourism marketing and voucher scheme would be detailed by the end of the month.
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