Riverland prepares for more flooding after huge downpour
Renmark Paringa Council is sourcing industrial sized pumps to push stormwater back over levee banks, as the town continues to mop up after it received nearly 100mm of rain on Sunday.
Clay is being raised for use on levee remiedation across the Riverland. Photo: Renmark Paringa Council
Bureau of Metrology data shows Renmark Airport received 95.6mm of rainfall on Sunday, mostly within a four-hour timespan between 3.45pm and 8pm.
The downpour was close to half the region’s average annual rainfall, which, according to BoM, sits at just above 230mm.
Renmark Paringa Council, which has suspended all non-essential capital works as it deals with the threat of floods, said the rainfall event caused “some localised flooding” but most of the floodwaters have drained away “relatively well”.
The Council said it has sourced industrial sized pumps to push stormwater over levee banks after major rainfall events.
The pumps are currently being distributed across the stormwater network, the Council said.
It comes amid concerns the rising River Murray could cut off key emergency routes in the Riverland, including the region’s only 24-hour emergency department in Berri.
The Council said local contractor Alvanos Earthmoving had, prior to Sunday’s rainfall event, completed around 70 per cent of works to strip vegetation from a hospital bank in preparation for major engineering works.
Vegetation stripped from a levee bank in the Riverland (October 22). Photo: Renmark Paringa Council
The Council also met with seven other Riverland-based earthmoving businesses on Monday to “prepare them for mobilisation”.
“It’s fantastic to have all these businesses in a room together and see a genuine commitment from those in the region wanting to protect our community,” Mayor Neil Martinson said in a statement on Monday.
“These are unprecedented times but banding together is the best shot we have of keeping our community safe.”
Latest State Emergency Service flood advice says the River Murray flow at the South Australian border is around 79 GL per day – the highest since 2016 – with major flooding happening in towns like Echuca further upstream.
Flows to SA were expected to reach about 85 GL per day around October 28, continuing to rise during November and reach approximately 120 GL per day in early December.
Water level forecasts could be updated, with latest SES advice based on water already in transit to South Australia and not including further rainfall, with a recent statement saying “further increases are highly likely as a result of more rainfall over the Murray-Darling Basin in the coming weeks”.
Flood warnings are still in place for the Light and Wakefield Rivers in Adelaide’s mid-north, while a new flood warning was issued on Monday for the Lower Light district in the Adelaide Plains.
