Uninsured home owners impacted by South Australia's summer flooding crisis can access up to $20,000 in new funding grants to help repair their homes, the state government has announced.
It has been almost four months since the River Murray peaked at the Mid-Murray town of Mannum, but local resident David Sharbel said he still spent four to five hours a day "cleaning up the place".
He admitted the work was "chasing your tail a bit", and he was "struggling" to keep up at his age.
"You had to wash the walls twice because mould would develop or come after washing it once," the 67-year-old said.
"All the spiders moved up with the water and they covered the place in cobwebs.
"Everything's dead — trees, ground cover, plants — all dead."
Mr Sharbel stayed throughout the summer floods and said he rowed in a boat daily to the main street to do his shopping.
"I survived but it was a very uncomfortable situation," he said.
"Very uncomfortable not having a toilet and a shower and all that."
A new round of grants, jointly funded by the state and federal governments, will provide up to $10,000 for home owners to help repair their flood-ravaged properties, and up to $10,000 for household items.
Minister for Human Services Nat Cook said insurance had, for some residents, become "completely unaffordable" prior to the floods, meaning they were not financially covered when the waters rose and swamped homes.
"There are many good people along the stretch of the Murray who have found their homes inundated and for whatever reason are not insured," she said.
"This $1.72 million grant round is specifically targeting people whose primary residence has been inundated and they have experienced losses to either property or their personal belongings."
Mr Sharbel said there were "quite a few renters" in the area who had also been impacted by flooding.
"If you've lost goods, they're your goods, they're not the owner's goods," he said.
Opposition Leader David Speirs said he welcomed more funding but improvements were needed to "make sure that funding is getting to people".
"I keep on coming up against people who are really concerned that they're falling through the cracks, they're not getting the support they need," he said.
The newly announced grants were welcomed by Swan Reach resident Patricia Davis, who said she was forced to let her flood insurance lapse last July when her premium skyrocketed to $15,000.
Ms Davis said she was "dumbfounded" when she saw the damage the floods had caused to her house, but she was grateful it could be salvaged.
"There was mud right through the place," she said.
"The kitchen was just a big, swollen mess.
"All my beautiful furniture, it had gone like a domino effect. One of them had fallen down and taken all the rest with them.
"I tried to get a lot of stuff out, but when you're doing it on your own it's a bit hard, so I left a lot of stuff there that I lost."
Despite the damage, Ms Davis said she and her 81-year-old husband felt "a lot luckier than others".
"When we walked down the street and we saw devastation … I was shocked by the amount of damage and the height it did go to," she said.
"I never, ever, thought I'd see that in my lifetime."
