This time last year, flood waters were lapping at levees providing protection for thousands of South Australian homes along the River Murray. The waters may be gone, but many reminders of the devastation remain.
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00:00 Every morning, Peter and Rhonda Smith have a coffee, overlooking the levee that saved
00:06 their Renmark home.
00:08 It's a stark difference to a year ago, when River Murray floodwaters were peaking at around
00:13 190 gigalitres a day.
00:16 As the river expanded, Mr Smith watched the crumbling levee being repaired.
00:21 Without that work, I've no doubt the whole of Renmark would have been flooded to some
00:25 extent.
00:27 Rick Wenski's home at the Cobdogla Caravan Park was saved by a levee constructed by the
00:31 Barrie Barmora Council late last year.
00:34 Without it, he says his house would have been about a metre underwater.
00:39 Now sections of the temporary levee have been removed, giving him access to the riverfront
00:44 again, but he's grateful the structures are there.
00:47 It does put your mind at ease that the fact that if they have to rebuild the levee, the
00:53 parts that they've taken down, the time frame is going to be very minimal to get that back
00:58 up and in place again to protect us.
01:01 The Department for Environment and Water says a three-year project is underway to improve
01:06 levee bank management along the River Murray, with discussions taking place with local councils
01:10 to develop a maintenance and management regime.
01:14 Back in Renmark, there's still a lot of work to be done as flood recovery continues.
01:18 There's about $25 million to go, but the town's up and functioning, tourists are coming and
01:24 people are working as they normally would.
01:27 It's exciting now, only 12 months on.
01:29 Looking forward to a drier summer.
01:30 [BLANK_AUDIO]