Floods entering new phase says ex cop in charge of recovery, as local Peter Stripe visits home in kayak

Amid warnings the floods disaster is entering a stressful new phase, one man has spoken of how locals are pulling together – as he took to his kayak to see where his caravan once sat.

Anxiety levels of people living along the River Murray are reaching new highs as more and more properties become inundated, the former high-ranking police officer charged with co-ordinating community recovery says.

But Alex Zimmerman has vowed to do everything in his power to ensure affected communities get every bit of help available to them.

In his first major interview since being appointed to the role of community recovery co-ordinator, Mr Zimmermann said the Murray flood was a very different disaster to the bushfires that were far more common in South Australia.

The former officer in charge of the State Community Engagement Branch and previous head of the Barossa Local Service Area played a key role in helping communities recover after the Pinery bushfire in 2015 and the Cudlee Creek fires of late 2019.

“If you look out here it’s actually quite serene and peaceful,” he said overlooking the inundated riverbank area at Swan Reach.

“It’s a unique thing, because most disasters have some kind of horrendous activity, like fire rushing through or a flash flood that occurs after a levee breaks and everything gets wiped out.

“Here it’s just been creeping up slowly.”

Community Recovery Coordinator Alex Zimmermann at Swan Reach. Picture: Tom Huntley

Mr Zimmermann said it was heartening to see how communities along the river had banded together to help one another prepare for the flood, but said it had now entered a new phase.

“I think now that people are seeing their properties in undated, there’s a different level of anxiousness and stress,” he said.

“Of course everyone knew it was coming, but seeing it actually happening is another thing. And there are so many new people who now live in this area who have never lived through anything like this. To them, the floods were stories you hear in the pub.”

Mr Zimmermann said his role was to work as a conduit between government services and the community, meeting with people who have been affected by the floods and making sure they get every bit of help they’re entitled to.

“Every situation is different, they’re nuanced,” he said.

“But we have an incredible suite of grants to cover off many, many different situations. They’ve built up over the many years, from our other experiences in both fires and floods.

“That’s why I would encourage people not to self-assess, not to read the criteria and think that there’s nothing available to them because there’s probably is. Ring the hotline, or drop into the one of the relief centres and speak to the people there that represent different agencies.

“We will do our very best to make sure that we can give them some support.”

Mr Zimmermann said the third and potentially most difficult stage of the flood would be the clean-up that came when waters began to subside.

“When you’re emptying the house everything is still in good order,” he said.

“But it’s what’s left after the waters recede with, potentially, silt and mud all throughout the home. That’s another fear that I’m sure that people are confronting.”

Mr Zimmermann said road damage caused by inundation would further complicate the recovery process, which he said would likely continue for “many, many months”.

But he said the floods also presented an opportunity for river communities to fix neglected areas and to use the influx of money to make their regions better than they were before the floods.

“That’s part of my job, looking at how can we help people recover and get to a position that was better than the day before the water came through,” he said.

“There are some really great opportunities.”

Pete Stripe kayaking along the foreshore at Swan Reach. Picture: Tom Huntley

Mr Zimmerman said he believed people from other areas should visit the region to see what he called “a once in a lifetime phenomenon”, provided visitors acted with caution and sensitivity.

“These communities need the money – these are bumper times in normal years,” he said. “There are some great vantage points and all we ask is that people use common sense. But there’s nothing wrong with coming and seeing something you might never see again.

“However people do need to be sympathetic to locals and maybe offer up some words of support.”

But Mr Zimmermann did warn parents that, with summer holidays in full swing, a flooded river was no place for children to swim or play.

“I really would not like to see children venturing into the river, which can be dangerous enough in normal times,” he said.

Mr Zimmermann urged anyone affected by the flood to visit the information page on the sa.gov.au website, call the relief information line on 1800 302 787 or visit the relief centres that have been set up at Berri and Mannum

Originally published as Floods entering new phase says ex cop in charge of recovery, as local Peter Stripe visits home in kayak