State Emergency Service chief officer Chris Beattie said 14 levees are now categorised as “catastrophic” and “irreparable” – up from eight on Tuesday – while a further 18 have “major defects” and are being assessed by Department for Environment and Water and SA Water engineers. 

He said some damaged levees, including one in Cobdogla, are protecting critical infrastructure and a large number of homes.

“We’ve got a number of large levees that protect towns where we’ve got works underway to effect repairs,” he told reporters this afternoon.

“Some of those are categorised as major, others minor or moderate.

“I think we can expect to see the number of defects increase across the levee network right throughout River Murray communities as that peak scales up and indeed as it scales down as well, because the structures will have been under load for some time.”

Beattie said a levee in Toora, a small locality around three-kilometres north of Murray Bridge, had “completely failed”, with the river now flowing into the floodplain behind it.

He said no properties were at risk, but some electrical infrastructure needed to be protected.

About 14 homes are expected to be isolated following a levee breach at Gurra Gurra, while a levee at the Kingston on Murray Caravan Park has also failed, dislodging a LPG gas cylinder.

There are now 3160 SA Power Networks customers in River Murray communities without power, with that number expected to increase to 4000 once the river flow peaks around Christmas Day.

Latest modelling handed to the government today shows flow forecasts remain at 190 to 220 gigalitres a day.

The peak is expected to reach Renmark and Berri over Christmas, Waikerie between December 29 and January 9, Swan Reach between January 2-13 and Murray Bridge between January 3-14.

Revised DEW peak flow dates for major townships on the River Murray: https://t.co/Jrb3dgCv8O

Renmark: 21 – 28 Dec
Berri: 22 Dec – 02 Jan
Waikerie: 29 Dec 09 Jan
Swan Reach: 02 – 13 Jan
Murray Bridge: 03 – 14 Jan

For River Murray flood links and advicehttps://t.co/vi6uS4pGck pic.twitter.com/MdnOHdpJLz

— SASES (@SA_SES) December 21, 2022

“Earlier this morning we clocked a calculated flow of 187 (gigalitres) at the border of flow into South Australia,” Beattie said.

“As we’ve seen with the recalibration of the river heights, our communities should expect to see river levels consistent with the flood that we had in 1931.

“It will vary from township to township, but by and large that 1931 flood event is the river levels that we’ll be expecting to see as the peak moves through.”

The flood peak is expected to drop to 150 gigalitres a day by mid-January and 100 gigalitres a day in February.

The SES currently has 14 active warnings in place while the number of road closures continues to increase.

Kingston Road at Moorook was closed to all vehicles on Thursday morning, with a detour via Drogemuller Road and Heinrich Road to and from the Sturt Highway.

Kingston Rd to Moorook closed this morning. Photo Facebook

“This road now needs to be closed to all vehicles for the safety of road users as water encroaches on the road and to allow the District Council of Loxton and Waikerie to construct a levee bank,” the Department for Infrastructure and Transport said.

Bookpurnong Rd connecting Berri and Loxton was closed on December 1, with a detour via Stanitzki Road to Sturt Highway, through Paringa and Renmark and onto Old Sturt Highway, Berri.

Floodwaters have cut Bookpurnong Road, the main route between Berri and Loxton. Photo: Belinda Willis/InDaily

A section of Taylorville Road, adjacent Ross Lagoon and north of the Waikerie ferry, may need to close in the next week due to rising water. A detour via Goyder Highway and Devlins Pound Road will be in place to enable the Waikerie ferry to remain operational for light vehicles.

Image: Google Maps