Vineyard owner and caravan park neighbour David Zadow surveys submerged cabins and flooded holiday shacks, saying one house nearby with water now lapping at its top storey was sold earlier this year for $1.2 million.

He and his father John had been focused on moving their water pump to a safe spot in readiness for the flooding, which arrived in a devastating rush on Sunday.

Now Zadow wonders where everyone will live.

“A lot of people live in those homes, and there’s just not enough places for people to go in Blanchetown,” he says.

Photo: Belinda Willis/InDaily

Chicken farms were established in the town relatively recently and while it was welcome having many new workers move to Blanchetown, it also means accommodation is now at a premium.

Zadow and other community members already had helped the Blanchetown Caravan Park owners move five cabins to a dirt carpark further up the hill alongside the Lutheran church.

The caravan park operators are now living in the cabins, using power from the church, with David saying they will likely be there for months.

David and John Zadow amongst flooding at Blanchetown. Photo: Belinda Willis/InDaily

Blanchetown Caravan Park manager Cassie Powell described how the water rose quickly and swamped the property with great force on Sunday.

“We thought we had another day going by the front of the river but when it broke the bank the water was spewing into the backwaters like a big Niagara Falls,” she said in a social media post.

A resident of nearby Paisley, also now flooded, is now their car park neighbour in a cabin next door.

One of the Zadow’s workers has a riverside house flooded on the other side of the bridge that spans the swollen Murray at Blanchetown, but is lucky enough to own a smaller house higher up the cliffs to stay, but another was not so lucky. “We moved our lunch van there so he had somewhere to live,” Zadow says.

The impact of the river’s force can be seen on the faces of visitors stopping to inspect the damage from the weekend flood.

Zadow visits houses on the other side of the huge lake with swirling water alongside his property, pointing to houses marooned at Paisley.

The holiday house he mentioned earlier having sold this year has furniture packed on its first-floor balcony, its owners hoping it would be safe from rising waters.

“They are going to lose all of that,” he says.

Photo: Belinda Willis/InDaily

Mattresses, rubbish and a fridge now float among gum trees, while Zadow says the road near the caravan park is also being destroyed by water surges.

It could get worse: the first peak of high river flows at the border is expected this week at 185GL, with a second predicted to reach as high as 220GL around Christmas and New Year.

John Zadow says the family have worked the land since 1894 when his grandfather took up the block, and the last time he saw this kind of water was in 1956.

“I was 21 then, there was a lot of damage,” he says.

Emergency acccommodation revealed

Premier Peter Malinauskas was in Morgan this morning to announce that the government had secured more than 22,000 overnight bed stays for River Murray locals forced to evacuate their properties.

He said the emergency accommodation would be made available “over the weeks and months ahead” for families who don’t have an alternative place to stay.

“The first best option for those people that will lose access to their homes is to find alternative accommodation through family and friends,” the Premier said.

“But we are ready to provide absolute last resort accommodation to those people who need it most.”

Emergency accommodation has been booked at motels, powered caravan sites and cabins in river communities including Berri, Glossop, Waikerie, Barmera, Murray Bridge and Tailem Bend.

Further, 16 self-contained Humanihuts are being erected at the Riverland Exhibition Centre to accommodate up to 64 people, while the
Exhibition Centre can accommodate more than 200 caravans with power and ablutions.

The State Government said it had also secured 35 Minderoo recovery pods, which can be deployed as required to properties where a primary residence has been rendered unliveable.

Despite the rising water levels, the government is encouraging people to visit River Murray communities to boost the region’s economy.

“The River Murray is a sight to behold at the best of times, but right at this moment it’s a one in 50 year event that is spectacular to see,” Malinauskas said.

“It’s safe to look at, provided you follow the appropriate warnings and all the guidance, particularly around road closures, which are being put in place to allow contractors to continue to build levees.”