Morgan braces for a Murray flood surprise

The small SA tourist town of Morgan on the Murray River is ­facing a deeply uncertain Christmas-New Year period as floodwaters threaten to further swamp low-lying areas.

The Murray River upstream from Morgan. Picture: Facebook

The small South Australian tourist town of Morgan where the Murray River takes a sharp left-hand turn before pointing ­towards Lake Alexandrina is ­facing a deeply uncertain Christmas-New Year period as floodwaters threaten to further swamp low-lying areas.

The latest Malinauskas government statistics on water flows during the Murray crisis shows that Morgan is on track early in the New Year to exceed levels ­experienced in the 1931 and 1974 flood crises.

But local government officials are hopeful that sandbagging, levee work and early repatriation of potentially affected people in caravan parks can alleviate serious risks to health and safety.

Mid Murray Council mayor Simone Bailey said some caravan residents near Morgan, about 170km northeast of Adelaide, were facing their second evacuation in weeks amid threats to a makeshift park at nearby Cadell.

“Morgan has been affected for eight weeks,” Ms Bailey said.

“Some of them are leaving their homes twice.”

Ms Bailey said the floods, which had inundated low-lying areas from as far upstream as Echuca in northern Victoria after torrential winter rains, had smashed tourism in the area.

“There’s no tourists. There’s zero tourists on the river,” Ms Bailey said.

Ms Bailey said that the state and federal business assistance had been crucial for the local area, with the council repre­senting 9000 residents across 6200sq km.

The government statistics show that further upstream in Loxton, 255km northeast of ­Adelaide, the river is expected to peak on Boxing Day, just below the 1974 flood high point.

Loxton Waikerie mayor ­Trevor Norton said he had no ­expectation the major population centres would be flooded heavily by the slow-moving wall of water.

However, he said other smaller settlements in the municipality would be under more pressure.

Mr Norton said there had been significant attempts made to protect assets, through levee banks, although some roads, including the major route between Loxton and Berri, had been cut.

This had forced health officials to bolster the local Loxton ­hospital by providing emergency facilities, he said.

On the Boxing Day threat to Loxton, Mr Norton said he was confident the town would be safe.

“That’s the best information we have. We’ve taken the necessary precautions,’’ he said.

The major population centre of Murray Bridge, about 100km from Adelaide on the banks of Australia’s biggest river system, is also facing potentially heavy ­inflows. Most of the regional city is built on high land.

South Australian Treasurer Stephen Mullighan said that more than $600,000 in grants had been provided to small ­businesses affected by the Murray floods, along with free financial counselling.

Mr Mulligan said 36 early business closure grants and 28 generator grants had been approved to support a range of small businesses in tourism, retail trade, accommodation, food service, and other sectors.

The government had also partnered with Rural Business Support to provide up to 30 hours of free, independent and confidential financial counselling to the region’s businesses.

“We are doing all we can to support small and family businesses as they are impacted by the challenge of rising floodwaters,” he said.

“We are continuing to meet with them to hear how they are coping and to see what else the government can do to support them through these difficult times,” Mr Mulligan said.