Some Riverland residents are worried that flood preparation has been too little, too late, and are having to fork out significant sums of their own money to protect their homes and lives.
Many are bracing for inundation, after authorities yesterday again increased their predictions of River Murray flows and the State Emergency Service (SES) warned that floodwaters could "overtop" residents' second-floor dwellings in low-lying areas.
Locals claim the amount of flood prevention work underway depends on the council area, meaning there are mixed opinions about the level of preparedness and threat.
There is also a push for an evacuation centre to be established in preparation for a worst-case scenario.
Barry Humphrey has lived on his houseboat at Renmark for six years with his wife, who works in aged care at the local hospital, and is apprehensive about what the floodwaters would mean for the couple's home.
"We love it here, we don't want to move — but we're going to have to," he said.
Mr Humphrey questioned the effectiveness of countermeasures so far undertaken and said mooring poles had not been put in the right spots.
"There's no safety there. That pole's not going to make it safe, it's not going to hold anything back," he said.
"I'd have liked them in front of the boat.
"We're going to have to put our own poles in, push our own poles in, and [they're] about $2,000 each, [for] each boat.
"We're getting the private fellas to do it at the weekend so our boats are safe, so we can stay there and not wreck the bottom of the pontoon."
Renmark Paringa Council chief executive Tony Siviour defended the council's emergency efforts, saying it was working as quickly and urgently as it could in the time available.
In addition to "significant" upgrades to levees, dozens of houseboat berths had received new mooring poles — but it was "just not possible for us to have a different solution for every different houseboat operator", Mr Siviour said.
"We've been putting in some emergency pylons to assist houseboat operators with being able to secure their boats during the high floodwaters," he said.
"There's approximately 100 houseboat moorings, so there'd be close to 200 houseboat mooring poles.
"[That's] based on the time we have available, the length of the posts that we've been able to secure and the engineering advice we've been provided with."
Several towns 'could be doing more'
Downstream, Darryl Drake is pleased the Berri Barmera Council is building a levee right outside his home in the Cobdogla Caravan Park.
"If it gets to where they think, if all this works, it'll be fine," he said.
While he is sanguine about the park's prospects, he hasn't escaped impact.
"I had to change insurances — mine went from $190 a month I was paying to $365. I had to change it and I couldn't afford that," he said.
"I'd just like to know if I do get flooded, I've got some help. I'm a pensioner."
Also in Cobdogla, Ric Wenske was full of praise for what had so far been undertaken, but was not without reservations about preparations further afield.
"There was a sense of relief because we would see something was happening, we weren't just being left and [told] 'fend for yourselves'," he said.
"The main concerns have been alleviated with the new levee bank and everything going in, it's fabulous that the council and the state government and the SES are working so hard to save our lovely little town here.
"[But] watching from afar, I think there's a few towns that could probably be doing a little bit more to help out."
Mr Wenske also questioned the decision to forego definite plans for an evacuation centre in the region at this point in time.
"Possibly there should be something because, for example, if our little town gets inundated, there's going to be a lot of people displaced without anywhere to go," he said.
"Some of us are lucky to have a travelling van that we can hook up, we've got places to go and be able to get safe — OK, we're going to lose our home — but there are some people here who don't have that privilege.
"People need to be able to stay somewhere."
