A Riverland resident has taken matters into her own hands and built her own levee to protect her home as floodwaters continue to rise.
Cathy's home usually sits 1 kilometre from the River Murray, but the water is now lapping up to her property.
That's before flows have even hit their first expected peak of up to 180 gigalitres a day.
A second peak is also expected between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.
Cathy's property, on the outskirts of Barmera, is facing inundation as more than 150 gigalitres of water flows across the border daily — levels not seen since 1974.
The pensioner has spent thousands on building her own levee to protect her property.
"I pump my water from the river by my pumps which is on a stand and now the actual floodwater is up against my property," she told ABC Radio Adelaide's David Bevan.
"I had to build a levee myself around the property to prevent the water from entering, and that was actually my biggest expense."
After footing the bill, Cathy looked into the financial packages that have been announced by the state government so far — she is entitled to nothing.
"Where [businesses] can get up to $50,000 from the relief program there is nothing actually for the private residents at all that live outside of the town area," she said.
"The council is actually protecting the infrastructure of the town, where people in the town don't have to pay that expense, but because I'm not living in the town, I do have to protect my property.
"It's a big thing for me, as a pensioner [and] a war widow, that I have to outlay this for being affected by the flood and then when I read that there's financial assistance for the residents — there's actually none, so it's very poor."
To add to Cathy's already difficult situation, her water and power has been cut off.
She has purchased her own generator to return her power supply, but she expected to be without water until later this week.
While some residents have taken up the option of leaving their homes with government assistance, Cathy said she needed to stay home to care for her animals and the property itself.
"The actual flood level hasn't come to its peak yet, so we all don't know how high it's going to be and that's a stress in itself," she said.
SA Premier Peter Malinauskas said the state government only wants to fund levee banks that are built "to a particular specification".
"We do know that interstate there have been private levees that have been built that have been largely redundant because they haven't been built to the standard that is required," he said.
"It would almost be an act of futility for the state government to provide money for private levees that aren't built for certification and it just gets washed away.
"There has to be an appropriate process in place and having very specific criteria and that's what we've got, in respect to the private levees that we are funding in regards to protecting businesses.
"In terms of other properties, we are assessing it to make sure we get that balance right."
The SA State Emergency Service has announced a community meeting will be held in Loxton on Tuesday, at 6:30pm at The Precinct, and streamed live on its Facebook page.
An emergency relief centre will open at Mannum on Wednesday.
Kylie Rochow has had to close her waterski shop in Mannum and empty out its contents in preparation for the rising floodwaters.
Had her business been on the opposite side of the main street, it would have been protected by a levee built by the local council.
She said she expected some inundation through the shop and that once floodwaters recede, there would be damage to repair — meaning her doors will be closed for up to six months.
Ms Rochow said many people had reached out to her to offer support over the past couple of weeks.
"It's been amazing the support from all the customers and the community has been absolutely phenomenal," she said.
"We've had a really great group of people that have helped us clear everything out."
Ms Rochow said December and January were the biggest months of the year for her business.
Despite the loss her business will suffer, she is confident she will be able to open again next year.
But she has been told a flooding event could be on the cards again next summer.
"Our council and the state government has 12 months to come up with a plan to help protect the businesses all up the river, who are going to be struggling this year, who will probably make it through this year, but will not be able to do two years in a row," she said.
Aged care residents prepare for relocation
Meanwhile, vulnerable residents at the Renmark Paringa Hospital's aged care facility will begin relocating to other facilities in the local health network from tomorrow.
Chief Public Health officer Nicola Spurrier said authorities wanted to move the frail residents in a calm manner as a precaution.
"This group of residents would take a long time to relocate carefully, and so what we wanted to do was have a predetermined level of the river and make a decision early to do a relocation," she said.
She said a second phase for relocation, which would involve moving residents that were more mobile, would take place in "the coming week or two".
Professor Spurrier said with the levee that had been completed last month, there was a "very, very low chance" the hospital would be flooded.
She also urged residents to consider vaccinations for Japanese Encephalitis Virus along with other measures to protect from mosquito bites.
South Australia has 23,000 doses of the vaccine which are being prioritised to people based on their postcode and proximity to the water.
