Renmark Paringa Council became aware of significant River Murray flows which were anticipated to reach the South Australian border by mid October 2022. In response to this information Council formed the Emergency Incident Management Team (EIMT) who begun meeting daily from Friday 14 October through to 12 January 2023.

The EIMT was formed by various members of staff and all major project, capital program works and non-essential services were placed on hold to ensure that Council could effectively direct its energy and resourcing into preparing for the flood event.

Council enacted Section 298 (Power of council to act in an emergency) of the Local Government Act 1999 on Tuesday 25 October 2022. This allowed for Chief Executive Officer Tony Siviour to provide the right level of leadership which was required during the event to protect the townships, community and local industries.

Council commenced positive and proactive dialogue with Local Government Risk Services (Council’s insurer) and the Local Government Association Mutual Liability Scheme throughout the planning and mobilisation stages. Council also provided Department for Environment and Water with a desired framework for emergency funding arrangements between Council and DEW.

Council engaged the services of contractors to ensure that the skills which were not available in the EIMT were captured and allowed for scientific and factual decision making.

EIMT collated a range of historical documents to ensure that the learnings from predecessors had gained were utilised in the decision-making process and to ensure that duplication of work did not occur.

This information along with the expertise from contractors at Council’s disposal allowed for EIMT to develop a strategy which ensured the safety and integrity on Council’s townships of Renmark, Paringa and Lyrup.

The most significant piece in the EIMT Flood Strategy was to utilise the 38km levee network by conducting remediation works. This levee network was built in 1959 by the South Australian Government following the infamous 1956 Flood. Many of the levee banks throughout the network had not been engaged since the 1974 flood and were in need of remediation.

Remediation of the levee banks consisted of firstly assessing what condition each of the banks were in and understanding what level they were currently able to withstand.
The second stage of remediation was determining what each levee bank needed to built to an Australian Height Datum (AHD) level of, develop a priority list of levee banks to be remediated based on how soon the toe (bottom) of the levee would be engaged first and what infrastructure each levee bank was protecting.
The third stage was requesting all earthmoving companies to attend a meeting at Council to invite them to be part of the levee remediation project to keep our community safe. This meant that these companies all had to prioritise Renmark Paringa Council in their works schedule to ensure that the levee banks were adequately prepared for the rising River Murray levels for when the peak hit.

In total, Council had 41 contractors and 40 suppliers join us in our efforts to protect our community.  150,000 tonnes of levee building material was excavated and utilised to remediate Council’s 38km levee network, 50 pieces of plant equipment was utilised daily and in total the levee banks remediation team worked 7 days per week, 12 hour days for a 10 week period.

In addition to the levee network Council also installed DefenCell along the Renmark Riverfront to protect infrastructure and the businesses along Murray Avenue. This work was completed by Council’s outdoor team, the South Australian State Emergency Services and a strong workforce of Tongan men and women kindly seconded from Costa Group. The installation of DefenCell along the Riverfront was pivotal in Council’s preparedness to the flood as it highlighted to the community Council’s commitment to protecting all those within the 38km levee network.

As part of Council’s Flood Strategy, Council’s stormwater system was carefully considered. Council closed off all 32 stormwater outlets during the flood event and installed industrial sized pumps in their place around the towns. This action was necessary to prevent flooding from backflow up through the stormwater network as the outlets to the River Murray became inundated by higher flows.
The theory of shutting these outlets was much simpler than application due to the sheer pressure which was being placed on the stormwater system. In some cases Black Water Diving services were engaged to ensure the closure of the outlets. When these methods did not mitigate the situation, the industrial sized pumps were activated on a continual basis rather than during rain events only.
Whilst the sight of these pumps around the townships did not look ascetically pleasing, they were successful in ensuring that the town remained dry and no inundation from the outlets occurred.

Council’s Flood Strategy included keeping stakeholders informed on all matters related to Council’s response to the flood. Regular updates were provided to the South Australian Government via written reports and the Mayor and Chief Executive Officer also briefed senior members of the South Australian Government with regards to our preparedness.

Council’s Chief Executive Officer Tony Siviour and Mayor’s both outgoing Neil Martinson and newly elected Mayor Peter Hunter spoke with ABC both locally and regionally to inform the community on Council’s preparedness plan along with regular requests from all media being actioned by them.
In addition to traditional forms of media being utilised to keep the community informed, Council also used more modern online platforms such as its website, social media platforms and developed an interactive map in conjunction with Mapping Services Australia.
Council’s online platforms had a far reach and allowed for information to be passed onto the community immediately. With media agencies external to the region using fearful headlines to attract more readers, it created anxiety and fear which was unnecessary. Council’s communication approach was always to be authentic and transparent and tell the story as to how Council was preparing to protect the townships.
Council’s reach on Facebook reached 207,000 people at the height of the flood peak and the feedback from the community as to how Council was keeping the community informed was extremely positive.

Once remediation works were completed and levee banks became engaged daily monitoring became required to ensure the integrity of the levee network was upheld. This monitoring ensured that any faults or erosion caused to the levee banks were corrected immediately. Council communicated these works to the community to again be transparent in its approach to the community.

On 26 December 2022 the River Murray peaked in Renmark at an AHD level of 18.549 Australian Height Datum (AHD). The levee network which was remediated with 150,000 tonnes of material held strong and no inundation within the levee network occurred. The 2022/23 River Murray Flood is the second largest flood the region has seen in 132 years.

With the peak flow continuing downstream, Council changed its focus from preparedness to recovery.