The manager of a caravan park on the River Murray in South Australia has warned people to prepare for the worst after her property was suddenly flooded over the weekend.
Blanchetown Caravan Park manager Cassie Powell said work had been done to prepare for flooding but then the water came over the banks of the Murray on Saturday and the park was quickly flooded.
Buildings and caravans are now underwater and the park is closed.
"The devastation is just so real," she told ABC Radio Adelaide.
She can now only see the park from the road.
"I'd hate to see what's in the middle of the park," she said.
"It was the most scariest thing that we've ever been through and witnessed …
"If you think you have another day and you can see that water coming, don't assume it, just get out."
The Murray is now expected to peak at 190–220 gigalitres per day at the end of the month.
Lower flow peaks had previously been predicted for early and then mid-December.
Emily Henrie, whose family has kept a shack at Blanchetown for more than a decade, inspected the scene on Monday.
From where she stood, she could see various family possessions and property that had washed up — including the fridge and shed.
"A lot of our furniture has washed up. It's crazy to think that … it's just floating everywhere," she said.
"It's obviously devastating to people who live in these permanently.
"We were able to walk out the front yesterday and now you need a boat to be able to get through."
Ms Henrie said that, despite warnings of water rising a metre over the roof, locals had been taken aback by the speed of the inundation.
"It's just something you could not picture. We never thought it would be like this," she said.
"It just happened too quick."
Emergency Services Minister Joe Szakacs urged Riverland and Murraylands residents to heed advice to ready themselves for further inundation.
"Preparation is really important and the one thing that you've called for, that I've called for, is to ask everybody listening to do is ensure their plans are well underway and that they don't leave preparation too late," he said.
"There's lots of support available and there's a lot of information available, but now is really the time to put these plans in place."
Nature booming along river
Upstream, at the Gerard Aboriginal community, a significant gathering place for families to fish, hunt and share stories is now underwater.
Community ranger Lillian Charles said she had never seen the river rise so high over the banks where she had spent many nights with her family.
"We come down there to have meetings, we have family camping here – staying out of the heat," she said as she pointed to a shelter that was almost submerged.
Despite families having to camp on higher grounds, she said the wildlife had come alive with higher water flows.
"Amazing — never seen anything like this before," she said.
"You can see the trees getting greener, all the frogs you can hear at night time."
Gerard was established in the 1940s, when members of the Swan Reach mission relocated there to avoid the flood-prone area they lived in at Swan Reach.
Gerard local Philip Johnson remembers flooding along the River Murray in 1974.
He said this was the first flood he had experienced with his grandchildren.
"We see it as just flushing our system — flushing the river system," Mr Johnson said.
"We always see the floods like that – it helps our native fish breed in the backwaters."
He said he was concerned, though, about potential blackwater events, where organic matter falls into the expanding river, reducing oxygen in the water that leads to fish kills.
He last saw these scenes in the 1970s.
"We've seen the Murray cod float past us," he said.
"[Native fish] love the floods, [they] go and breed in the backwaters – that's what they do."
He said blackwater events could be reduced if there was more prescribed burning, with Aboriginal consultation.
"Our ancestors used to do that years ago," Mr Johnson said.
"All of the places along the river – it'd prevent bushfires too."
Grants for affected irrigators
Irrigators who have been impacted by River Murray flooding are now eligible to apply for grants of up to $25,000.
The grants are part of the state government's emergency relief package to support primary producers impacted by power cuts.
The grants can be used to cover costs such as relocating old pumps or purchasing generators.
Rosalie Auricht from the Renmark Irrigation Trust says the number of farms affecting by power cuts was growing daily as waters rose in the Murray.
"There'll be varying costs in shifting pumps from those lower levels to get them up to a safer level," she said.
"For big irrigators, it probably won't be enough but certainly for the smaller pumps any grant is certainly welcome."
