🌊 Floods

Workers rush to strengthen Lower Murray levees ahead of flood peak

The state Department for Environment and Water is re-measuring and repairing the levees which protect valuable farmland in the Murray Bridge and Coorong districts.

Peri Strathearn

Nov 4, 2022 — 2 min read

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Peter Down and Said Khelwaty work on a levee bank at Jervois on Friday. Photo: Peri Strathearn.

Minor repair works are being carried out on levee banks along the Lower Murray in preparation for the coming floods.

A Department for Environment and Water spokesman said most of the state government-owned levees between Woodlane and Wellington were “generally in good condition”.

DEW staff regularly inspected levee banks for any damage or wear, and used a differential GPS system to measure levee height to within a few centimetres.

The department had also cross-referenced the GPS data against the results of a 2021 lidar survey – a type of 3D scanning using a laser – to confirm levee heights.

Wherever repairs were needed, DEW staff and contractors had brought in truckloads of rubble to strengthen the top of the levee, then clay soil to shore up the river side.

Angus Dodd and a task force leader survey the levee at Jervois during the 1956 floods. Photo: RJ Rainsford/State Library of South Australia (B70216).

Workers will spend up to six days a week on the government-owned levees to make sure any works can be finished by the end of November.

There are 23 such levees in the Murray Bridge and Coorong districts, including those which protect Mypolonga, Long Flat, Jervois and virtually all of the other swamp flats along the Lower Murray.

The DEW spokesman said any private levees were the responsibility of their owners.