Shipping container pods given to River Murray flood victims rebuilding their homes

Almost 18 months since the River Murray floods shattered their lives, Suzanne and Trevor are calling this tiny pod home. Here’s why it’s been life changing.

It has been more than one year and five months since Suzanne and Trevor Thompson were evacuated from their Blanchetown home.

Instead of the two-storey, proudly renovated rooms that once regularly hosted their grandchildren, they now stand inside a converted shipping container-turned makeshift granny flat – fully self-contained with a fridge, water tank and shower.

These are the four walls the couple will call home as they continue to painstakingly rebuild their lives, brick by brick.

For most of South Australia, the swelling once-in-a-generation River Murray floods that engulfed more than 3500 properties from December 2022 to January 2023 are now a distant memory.

But, on the empty plot where their now-demolished home once stood, the pain of loss remains blisteringly real for the couple.

The couple bought their riverfront property in 2007 and regularly travelled between Adelaide and Blanchetown, before making the “dream” move to live there full time a few years ago.

As part of flood relief measures, tiny "pods" have been dropped onto damaged properties for residents to live in until their homes are rebuilt. Picture: Dean Martin

The couple’s home was destroyed in the devastating December 2022/January 2023 floods. Picture: Supplied

The dream quickly turned into a nightmare when surging floodwaters nudged the balcony of their home in December 2022, destroying everything inside.

After being evacuated, the couple had emergency accommodation through flood relief measures for the first few weeks after the disaster. But, when that ran out, the 61 and 64-year-olds found themselves homeless.

For more than six months, they lived in their grandson’s room at their daughter’s house.

“He had to go and live in his mum’s room so there was space for us,” Mrs Thompson, 61, said.

“We had emergency accommodation for a short time, but once that ran out we had nowhere to go.”

With a construction glut compounded by limited resources in the area and mountains of bureaucratic red tape, the couple quickly realised their insurance funds were not going to cover costs.

“We didn’t get our house demolished until October last year — on my birthday actually,” Mrs Thompson said.

“Then trying to get someone to build the new one has been nearly impossible. We’ve been stuffed around by that many builders – living up here it’s hard enough to get one anyway, then they’re talking three years to build something.

“Most builders charge an extra $40,000 just for the travel.

“If I didn’t love living in Blanchetown so much, I would have just packed up and sold up knowing now how hard it was going to be.”

It was an extra-tough goodbye for Mr and Mrs Thompson’s four grandchildren – Gia, 10, Zahlia, 8, Andrei, 6, and Hunter, 5 – who were all-but raised in the riverfront property.

Mrs Thompson's grandchildren watching their beloved riverfront property being demolished after the floods. Picture: Supplied

The kids took to the home’s walls to share their favourite memories. Picture: Supplied

Before the house was knocked down, the youngsters took to its walls to immortalise their favourite memories – a touching final farewell.

“It was so heartbreaking for them because they didn’t understand what the flood was, they just knew their favourite place was gone,” Mrs Thompson said.

“We went up there and I gave them all crayons … on the walls, they drew all their experiences of living there and pictures of each other.

“It turned something that could have been really negative into a really happy memory for them.”

Just like much of the community that surrounds them, Mrs Thompson has maintained a relentless pragmatism in the face of adversity and found support in the close-knit Riverland coterie.

With a background in roof tiling, Mrs Thompson has decided to rebuild their home herself – with the help of friends of friends in the building industry.

As they wait for the slab to be poured for their new life, the couple is now the recipient of one of six self-contained emergency relief homes aimed at helping Riverland residents stay close to their properties.

Suzanne Thompson and her husband Trevor, are living in a pod at Blanchetown while they begin the building process. Picture: Dean Martin

The converted shipping container pods, which run off mains power with a backup generator, are a jointly funded initiative by the Albanese and Malinauskas governments through the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.

Minister Nick Champion said commuting daily from accommodation, particularly in small towns were rentals were near-impossible to find, was both costly and time-consuming.

He hoped the pods would made the difficult time a little bit easier — something Mrs Thompson said couldn’t be more valuable.

“It’s just made life so much better, there are even bunk beds that mean the grandkids can come and stay with us again,” she said.

The road ahead remains a long one, but Mr and Mrs Thompson are marching on with their beloved community by their side.

“It’s been really hard on my husband’s mental health … I’m doing most of the planning myself because it’s all too much for him,” Mrs Thompson said.

“But it’s a beautiful community and we’re all banding together … we have our laughs, we have our cries.

“We just love it so much up here and we didn’t want to have to move anywhere else, so we’re just taking each day as it comes.”