Flood planners and engineers have found two levee banks in the Riverland town of Renmark are "not fit for purpose" and require urgent repairs.
The South Australian State Emergency Service and the Department for Environment and Water are in the Riverland, surveying the region's levee banks.
It comes after Murray River flow forecasts of 120GL per day into South Australia by early December were released on Wednesday.
Of particular concern to authorities were two flood banks in Renmark, on Hale Street and behind the town's hospital, which engineers visited yesterday.
Department for Environment and Water water delivery manager Chrissie Bloss said the engineers concluded the levee banks were "not fit for purpose" to hold back water for a period of time.
The State Emergency Service and the department have announced works to remediate the levy near the Renmark Hospital will begin today and are expected to take about four weeks.
Ms Bloss said the banks were eroded by wind, rain and animals and had holes in them.
"We're quite concerned they could fail if they were called into action," she said.
"They've got gullying down the sides of the slopes of the levee and holes going down vertically from the crest of the levee.
"It means it would be easy for water to get in and start seeping through and once you've got water starting to seep through it can start eroding and you can have a bank failure."
High flows take priority
In a statement yesterday, Renmark Paringa Council said it would be putting all non-essential infrastructure and capital works on hold to put resources into dealing with the expected high flows.
While the forecast is 120GL per day to be flowing into SA by early-December, the council says its preparing for flows to be higher.
The council is responsible for parts of the levee bank which were inspected yesterday.
"I'm concerned for Renmark for sure, but I believe everything that's been put in place now is going to strengthen those banks we've talked about," Renmark Paringa Council mayor Neil Martinson said today.
"Council is currently talking to the state government in regards to money, but at the moment the work has to be done, regardless of the cost."
Peter Smith, who lives next door to the Renmark Hospital levee bank, said he wasn't worried about the current flow forecasts for the state.
"I was comfortable with the information we got from our insurance company with river levels," he said.
"It is concerning for a lot of people up here though."
Meanwhile, the SES will transport more than 70,000 sandbags and 50 tons of sand to the Riverland, including 40,000 to Loxton, 20,000 to Blanchetown and 10,000 to Morgan.
